Hell's Smitten
by WhatItShouldveBeen
Summary: You've been training to be a part of Hell's Kitchen for almost eight years, and now your time has finally come. Will you impress your idol, Chef Gordon Ramsay, or will you be sent home in tears? I UPDATE THIS 100x MORE FREQUENTLY ON MY WATTPAD (just remove spaces)- www . wattpad . com /739617788
1. Prologue

My dream was finally coming true. Ever since I started watching Hell's Kitchen at 16 years old, I have studied tirelessly to become a chef that Gordon Ramsay would be proud of. Now, as I wait on the couch in my living room with a camera pointed at my face expectantly, I can barely stifle my excitement as I hear the doorbell ring, and hop to my feet.

"(Y/N)?" asks the portly man at the door, holding a red card in both of his hands.  
"Yes, that's me!" I exclaim excitedly, nervous energy coursing through me. The film crew had arrived beforehand, so I knew this part was just for the camera, but it felt as amazing as I had imagined seeing my invitation in the presenter's hands.

"Congratulations, you've been chosen as a contestant on Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen!" he announced, then held out his hand to shake mine. I was too busy bouncing around the room to reciprocate, but he seemed nonplussed and smiled at me,  
"I love the enthusiasm, I'm sure Ramsay will appreciate it."

At the mention of Gordon's name, I feel my face flush in nervous heat. Holy shit, this is for real. This isn't just a sixteen-year-old's dream anymore. At the prime age of twenty-three, I was going to be whisked away to Los Angeles to compete against fellow chefs for the chance to be an executive chef, hand picked by Gordon himself. Tears began to well in my eyes, and I turned to the man at the door and thanked him, accepting my invitation graciously.

The camera crew thanked me and got up to leave, many of them congratulating me as they left my small apartment. One younger woman stopped and said she was rooting for me, which caused me to break out in a smile.

Once the camera crew had all gone, I bounced around my living room and kitchen, unable to stop myself. This was it, I was going in the next week to see my idol, the man I've been living my whole life since I was a teenager to try and impress will be in front of me in the flesh, soon.


	2. Chapter 1- Arrival

All of the other contestants and I gathered at the pickup lane at the airport, waiting for the Hell's Kitchen limo to round the corner. I took this time to examine my competition. There were fifteen other chefs aside from myself that were going to be competing against each other this season. Eight men and eight women. Thinking back to past seasons, I wondered which chefs were put here just to stir up drama. My wondering was cut short with an almost uncanny interruption.

One of the women, dressed in a low cut floral top, white skirt and with bleached blonde hair decided to gather everyone's attention. Or at least, the attention of the people that weren't already staring at her near exposed breasts.  
"Oh my GOD can you guys believe it!" She bounces in place, jiggling. "I'm like, actually here. Of all the applicants I got picked! I can't wait to see which of you makes it to the final five with me." she grins wickedly like the Cheshire cat,

"Should be real easy, my competition doesn't look very... fierce." her eyes quickly flit about the contestants, stopping on me for what seemed to be just a second longer than the others.

One of the few to not be at a loss for words was a middle-aged, stout and balding man who scoffed at her,

"This is Hell's Kitchen not Keeping Up with the Kardashians unless you keep your cooking skill in those tits then I doubt you'll make it to the final five with that self-absorbed attitude. This is a team game."  
Though he was stocky, his voice was commanding, and surprisingly the blonde looked sheepish at being talked down to. She hadn't even come up with a snarky retort by the time that a tall man in a suit approached us.

"Hell's Kitchen contestants?" he questioned the group then continued after seeing our collective nods, "please follow me." he then started walking towards the exit.

Our bustling group of contestants all happily followed him to a sleek black limousine with the initials "HK" branded on the side parked just outside the loading gate. All of us looked giddily at each other. I can feel excitement buzzing through my body as I lock eyes with the girl next to me, her brown curls are bouncing in place as she jitters. We both give a shy grin, recognizing the other's excitement. As we approached the limo, the driver opens the door and lets us all inside.

The limo was plush and cozy and there was an ice box with a bottle of champagne inside situated in the middle. The driver introduces himself as Paul and passes out champagne glasses to all of us before he takes his seat at the front and begins the drive to the kitchen.

One of the younger men- green-eyed, thin with messy ruffled brown hair- took hold of the champagne bottle, opened it swiftly and began pouring glasses for everyone with finesse. His winning smile was contagious as he confidently lead us all in a discussion of where we'd come from to get here, and cracked a few jokes. Soon enough all of us were smiling and laughing together.

After about 30 minutes of driving and laughing, the lights of the tinted window limo went out, leaving us in partial darkness. The chatter died down and everyone started looking around somewhat confused. Shortly, a small TV flipped open right by the window between the driver and us contestants. On that TV was none other than Chef Ramsay, wearing his striking white head chef jacket with his arms crossed across his chest in what one may consider his signature pose.

"Good afternoon, Hell's Kitchen contestants! I hope you all are enjoying yourselves on your trip to Hell because things are about to get a lot less luxurious. As soon as you arrive, I expect you to hop in the kitchen and begin work on THE signature dish of yours that you are," he adamantly shook his fist, "MOST proud of." The passion in his eyes burned in a way that could be felt through the screen. All of us were silent, at rapt attention.

"You have 45 minutes from the moment you arrive to complete your signature dish. The red and blue team will be competing, so be sure your dish impresses. I will meet you all as soon as you've finished. Good luck, contestants." he finished and turned his back to us as the screen folded back up and the lights turned back on.

We were all silent for a few seconds, until one of the women sitting closest to the screen weakly said, "Gee, he sure is intimidating."

She was small even while sitting down, her curly red hair framed her pale white face. She had freckles across her nose that really stood out when her skin was drained of color. One of the men sitting next to her- somewhat built, brown eyed and black haired with a buzz cut- comfortingly wrapped his muscled arm around her shoulder, rapidly bringing color back to her cheeks.

"Chin up Red!" he exclaimed. "Ya wanna be brave when you talk to Ramsay, even if you're scared, don't show 'em that you are."

She nodded delicately, curling her shoulders in to avoid touching his arm as much as possible. He didn't seem to notice and left it around her for the rest of the duration of the ride, about another 15 minutes or so.


	3. Chapter 2- Signature Dishes Part 1

When the limo finally came to a stop, we all got out quickly, excitement tinged the air as we gazed up at the big trident spelling out "HK" in front of the restaurant. Some of us, including myself, took the stairs two at a time in eagerness to make it to the kitchen and begin our dishes. The LCD TVs that lined the hallways of the entrance of Hell's Kitchen displayed time clocks, counting down from 45:00.

I was among the first to make it to the kitchen and quickly began gathering ingredients for my signature dish. I recalled the things that Ramsay really enjoyed eating from previous contestants of earlier seasons, and thought on my own strengths and weaknesses. Quickly, I decided I would make pan seared scallops, with a white wine tarragon sauce topped with finely chopped bits of bacon.

An older black gentleman met me at the back of the fridge where the scallops were kept and gave a small smile as we both took enough scallops for our dishes. I wished fervently that he wouldn't be able to make a better dish that I could... and hoped that I wouldn't over or under-cook the scallops as I know that can make or break a first impression with Chef Ramsay's high standards.

Forty-five minutes flew by quicker than the blink of an eye. My scallops looked perfectly cooked as I meticulously babysat them on the pan. Carefully, I laid them out in a pleasing pattern on the plate, dropped the perfect amount of white wine tarragon sauce on top and then sprinkled the bright red bacon pieces over the top. I garnished the plate with a small curl of lemon peel and set it up under its silver domed serving platter right as the buzzer sounded to announce the end of our time.

Now my heart really started to race. This wasn't a dream anymore, in a few seconds, Gordon Ramsay would be walking out of his office to greet us. Soon enough, he would be tasting the food I'd prepared for him. It felt surreal. The other contestants and I lined up, women at the front of the left red kitchen and men at the front of the right blue kitchen.

Then the doors opened of his office and Chef Ramsay made his way to the stairs, skipping down them agilely. He opened his arms in greeting to us,

"Welcome! Good to see all your bright, shining smiles this afternoon. I hope your flights were lovely. The winner of this competition will become the new executive chef at a restaurant I am opening up right next to my home in London, aptly named 'Gordon Ramsay's London Cuisine'. Keep in mind, the red team is versus the blue team on this signature dish challenge. Let's get to it, shall we? Starting from the outside, the red team presents first," he pointed to the first woman on the red team side and the first man on the blue team side then motioned them forward.

Our red team contestant had short brown hair in a bun, a sharp nose, and serious eyes. She walked as if she had a string pulling her up from the top of her head, and set down her platter carefully, adjusting it so it was sat just so, before opening the lid. Blue team's contestant walked gaily to the front, carefree as anything, and placed his platter down. It was the same kid who'd poured out the champagne for all of us earlier.

"Right, your name please? And what is your dish?" Chef asked, addressing the red team contestant and waving his hand towards her dish.

She stood with her arms behind her back, her hands tightly locked together and responded, "Gail. I have a freshly baked halibut with tomato, onion, olives, and capers with just a little bit of cayenne for a kick of spice."

Ramsay nodded before pulling her plate towards him. "Well, first off, the presentation is an absolute mess. You have onions sticking out like loose hairs. Really unappetizing. Let's see how it tastes."

To her credit, Gail took his criticism in stride and watched intently as he took a bite.

"Though it looks like absolute shite, it tastes rather good. If you were to spend more time making it presentable you might have a decent dish. Thank you, Gail." he said, then dismissed her. She nodded and took her plate and tray back to the line.

"Alright, you, name please and your dish?" he addressed the blue team contestant now, who lifted his platter's lid.

"Hey I'm Dave, and this is a, uh, stuffed cabbage roll with beef, rice, and tomatoes topped with queso cheese." he pushed the plate towards Ramsay.  
Chef took the plate and examined it. "Your cabbage rolls look slimy on the parts that aren't absolutely oozing with cheese. You went a bit overboard with the queso, I think." he said as he takes a fork and knife and cuts into the cabbage roll to take a bite.

"Overall, too cheesy. If you had merely topped it with something else or perhaps prepared the cabbage in a way that didn't make it shine like plastic it might look and taste better. I'm disappointed, Dave." he motioned for Dave to step back in line and clasped his hands together.

"I don't think either of you is quite up to my standards, so no team gets a point. Next two, please."

Up next were two people I hadn't taken note of yet. Blue team's contestant was a man with short brown hair, buggy eyes, and no chin. He walked with confidence, however, and placed his tray down. Red team's contestant was a short, lumpy 30-something woman with a haircut that screamed: "Take me to your manager!" She walked to Chef and took her lid off sideways, knocking off some garnish from the top of her plate. She quickly tried to grab it but Ramsay pushed her hand away. "You have to be more careful! You can't just fling lids willy nilly! Get a grip! What is your name and what is it," he quickly gestured at the dish, "and don't mention the garnish, I'm not eating that off the table like a starving dog."

She looked embarrassed before straightening up and speaking,

"Uh, I'm Cindy, this is my signature dish, baked lemon chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce." she eyed the garnish that had been knocked off, and Ramsay responded by quickly swiping the garnish into the trash can.

"Alright Cindy, well, it looks decent, would surely have looked better had you not trashed your garnish. Let's give it a taste." he cut into the chicken for just a second before drawing back with a disgusted face.

"Cindy," he paused, "are you trying to poison me before we even begin the fucking show?" he looked enraged as he turned the chicken towards her and the camera.

Cindy's face went pale as she stammered, trying to apologize.

"Fucking RAW Cindy! You would think forty-five minutes would be enough time to cook a fucking chicken breast, but you evidently can't handle even the most basic of tasks. I'm not eating this." he quickly swipes the dish up and dumps the whole thing over into the trash.

"And considering you attempted to apologize before I even told you what was wrong, I'm guessing you WERE trying to poison me because you KNEW it was raw and still decided to serve it! You think that's acceptable behavior for an executive chef at 'Gordon Ramsay's London Cuisine'? If I had you as the head chef, it'd be called 'Gordon Ramsay's Biological Hazard'. Get the fuck back in line." he dismissed her with a furious wave of his hand, not even looking at her. She dropped her head and took back her empty tray.

"Alright, I certainly hope you haven't come to poison me as well, what's your name and what is the dish?" he asked the blue team contestant.

"Hey, I'm Alex, I've been a line chef for eight years and this is my signature dish, lentils, and wild rice with fried onions." he lifted the lid and pushed the plate towards Chef.

"Hmm, looks decent, the onions look crisp. Let's taste it." he spoons a bite of rice and onion together and then brings it to his mouth.

"The aroma is lovely, and it tastes lovely too. The onions are cooked to perfection. Well done, Alex, back in line." Alex nods and turns to leave, when Ramsay adds, "Oh, and thanks for not trying to poison me." Cindy looks down quickly, her cheeks going red in embarrassment once again.

"Poison and excellence, let's hope that we can stick to the latter, shall we? I think it's obvious that the blue team has earned the point this time." Ramsay motions for the next two contestants to come forward.

Our contestant this time was the bleached blonde with her tits falling out from her shirt. She walked with an exaggerated sway to her hips to place her tray down. The boy's contestant was the buzz cut black-haired man who'd tried to comfort the short woman he'd called "Red" on the limo. He confidently placed his tray down and smiled at Ramsay.

"Alright, red team, your name, and your dish please?" Ramsay looked at his watch then clasped his hands behind his back.

"Heeeyyyy, Gordon, I'm Bella. I call this dish 'Bella's Baked Ziti'. It's made with Italian sausage, pasta and tomato sauce with cheese" she said, almost sickeningly sweet.

"It's Chef to you. Good God, I would've hoped I wouldn't have to say this to anyone again but your breasts are exploding from your shirt. Please cover yourself." he hands her a towel from over his shoulder. She takes it daintily and places it over her chest, flushed.

"Presentation is lacking, you have sauce everywhere on the rim of the plate. It looks like you just slapped it down. Did it do something to you to deserve this?" Ramsay lifts a corner of the ziti and wrinkles his nose. "You've broken the pasta from handing it so roughly. I'm surprised it stayed together long enough for you to walk it over to me. The filling is practically spilling out like your tits from your top. Let's hope it tastes better than it looks." he mumbles as he cuts the ziti.

"You're lacking seasoning, but otherwise it is quite good. If only it looked better than slop. Get back in line!" he sharply jabs his finger at the red team and Bella quickly scurries away with her tray, holding the towel over her bosom.

I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Bella getting a towel from Ramsay. Though it was only a towel that was meant to cover her breasts, he still had given it to her himself. I hoped fervently that he would give me something of his eventually during my stay to remember him by.

"OK, blue team, your name and dish please?" Gordon's voice snapped me back to the present.

The man from the blue team actually managed to make Gordon look average height, he was maybe two or three inches taller than the 6'2 Gordon Ramsay, but Gordon still looked far more intimidating than the muscular blue team contestant. Maybe I was only thinking that because I knew how intense Chef was.

"The name's Garrett. An' this here is my signature dish, tilapia scampi. A twist on the traditional shrimp scampi." Garrett watched eagerly as Ramsay inspects his dish.

Gordon lifts up one end of the tilapia with a fork and motions with his other hand, "A little burnt here, but it looks good. Let's taste it..." he trails off, cutting into the fish and taking a bite.

"It's perfectly flaky, rich with good use of butter and garlic. Delicious. Just be more careful to not burn it next time and you should be golden." Ramsay smiles at Garrett and hands him his plate.

Garrett beams as he takes his plate back, almost forgetting the dome for his serving platter. He turns around to grab it and Chef is already handing it to him. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, big boy." Ramsay teases, then follows up with, "It appears both teams are making a comeback, one point to each."


	4. Chapter 2- Signature Dishes Part 2

"Alright, next two please, you know the drill," Chef says nonchalantly, shifting from one foot to the other and looking around impatiently, his smile replaced as suddenly as it had appeared.

From the red team lineup, an elegantly dressed Indian woman stepped with poise towards Ramsay. She set her tray down just as the blue team's contestant approached- the bald man who put Bella in her place earlier.

"Red team, your name, and dish please?" he looked at her expectantly.

"Chef, my name is Kalyani, and my signature dish was inspired by my mother's shrimp curry, passed down through our family. It prominently features coconut milk, curry and of course is pulled together by a hint of ground ginger."

Chef pulls the plate towards himself and quickly said, "It looks lovely, Kalyani, just lovely. I love traditional Indian food." he spikes a shrimp with his fork, swirls it in the curry and brings it to his mouth.

"Absolutely delicious, you've definitely had practice with this dish. Thank you." he nods at her, handing back her dish.

"And could you please introduce yourself and your dish?" Ramsay addresses the bald man.

"Of course Chef, I'm Pietro and I've made you one of my personal favorites, Pietro's Meatballs." he hands Chef his plate, then stands back, watching carefully.

"Presentation is a bit lackluster, let's see about the flavor." he cuts into one of the meatballs and tastes it.

"What it was missing in looks it makes up for in a burst of deliciousness. Both teams get a point, wonderful. I hope we can keep up this quality. Next two chefs, please." he waves for the next two to come forward as Pietro makes his way back into line.

Up next, our red team contestant was the small and dainty freckled red-haired girl who'd been intimidated by Ramsay just from watching him on the television. I wondered how she'd fare now that she was inches away from him. Trailing just behind her was the blue team's contestant, the older black gentleman who'd also prepared a scallop dish.

"Red team, what's your name and what is the dish?" Ramsay asked, glancing at his watch again.

The girl- nicknamed "Red" by Garrett earlier- hesitated.

"Well, love, we don't have all day. Please." Ramsay reached for her dish without waiting any longer for her to speak.

She seemed to finally find her voice and meekly said, "My name is Mary, and I've made you a seared tuna with wasabi butter sauce." she looked at the ground the entire time she was speaking.

Chef noticed, of course, and quipped, "Mary, please, look at me when you're speaking. I can't hear very well when you talk to your toes. Let's try the dish, shall we?"

Ramsay cut into the tuna without waiting for her to answer and took a bite.

"You've gone overboard on the wasabi, I can barely taste the tuna. It's too strong." he handed the dish back to 'Red' who started to sniffle.

"Oh come on darling we can't have you breaking down already, the show has barely begun and there's much worse in store. If you can't handle it, please, I don't want to see you cry. You're welcome to go." he motioned at the door in pity.

Red finally looked at him in the eyes and shakily said, "No Chef, I can do it." and walked back to the line. I could see that her cheeks and ears were burning red in embarrassment, so I tried to not look any longer.

"Blue team, your name and dish please?" Chef asked, picking up the pace.

"Sir, my name is Shaun and I've prepared a Cajun seafood pasta for you today, including scallops and shrimp," he said as he handed the dish over.

Ramsay eyed it for a moment before asking, "Is this meant to be a single portion? It looks like you planned to feed the lot of us."

"Oh, yes sir it was meant for one portion. I'll cut down, I apologize." he said calmly.

Chef took a fork and took a bite.

"Your pasta is under-cooked and your scallops are over-cooked. A shame, as the sauce is excellent." he hands the dish back.

"I'm sorry, but neither team gets a point. This puts our current points at 2 for the red team and 3 for the blue team."

"Next up, please, and hurry." Ramsay indicated his watch, showing that the show was running a bit behind schedule.

Our contestant stepped out of line, carrying her tray. She had mid-length curly brown hair and soft brown eyes. I recognized her as the girl that had shared my excitement at the airport just outside of the limo. Following her was blue team's shortest contestant, a young man with short light brown hair, he looked the most forgettable out of everyone I'd seen so far.

"Red team, please, what is your name and dish?" Ramsay asked, hurrying along.

"My name is Taylor. I've made a stuffed and wrapped chicken breast for you, Chef. It's got cream cheese and bacon." she stepped back as Ramsay took her plate and cut into it.

"Presentation is nice, your bacon is crisp and I can still see a little steam coming off of it. Let's hope this chicken is cooked properly," he said as he pulled his fork to the side, revealing the inside of the chicken.

"Ah, great, it's cooked perfectly." he takes a bite, "And tastes wonderful, fantastic work Taylor. Back in line please." he hands her the plate and steps back.

"Blue team, let's see how you compare. Your name and dish?" he asks.

"Hey, I'm Dylan. I've made you one of my favorites, old fashioned mac n cheese." he hands the plate over and watches Ramsay carefully.

"You've seriously spent 45 minutes to make something my youngest daughter can make by herself in the kitchen? Oh golly, I hope it tastes astounding, it looks like rubbish." he sighs as he takes the plate.

He forks a bite into his mouth and spits it out quickly after into the bin next to him. "Good god Dylan, you've forgotten the salt! It just tastes like a big glob of cheese. Get this pile of goo out of my way." he hands the dish back to Dylan, his upper lip twitching in disgust.

"It's another no brainer that the red team has pulled this point. This ties the score at 3 to 3. Next, please."

The next two contestants looked worlds apart. Our red team lady was thin with tattoos over almost every inch of her arms aside from her hands and had cropped black hair. On the other hand, the blue team's contestant looked like he just came out of a high society brunch, what with having a tailored suit on and slicked back blond hair. The only similarity between the two was that they both had deep blue eyes.

"Right, first, your name and dish please?" He asked of the tattooed woman. She handed the dish over and locked eyes with Ramsay.

"I've made a winter vegetable hash, with potatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, and squash to name a few. OH, and my name is Gina." she adds.

"Winter vegetables in summer? Alright, then." he takes the plate. "It looks nice, but I do wish that you'd made something that showcased a bit more skill than a hash. Let's taste it." he stabs a few of the vegetables and eats them.

"It's actually quite nice. Ordinarily, I would hope to see more finesse but this will do. Thank you, Gina." he hands the plate back and Gina nods, stepping back into line.

"Alright blue team, what is your name and dish?" he says quickly.

"Abel. My dish is chicken Marsala over white rice with fresh mushrooms." his voice was like silk when he spoke, and a few girls glanced at each other as if to see if anyone else noticed how nice his voice was.

"Abel, did you know you'd be coming here to cook or did you think you were here for a high society event? I surely hope you're prepared to ruin that nice suit jacket." Ramsay said as he took the dish.

"I am not a messy cook chef, I can keep my clothes clean." Abel responded, nonplussed.

"Right then, the presentation is not as fancy as you, but still quite nice. The flavor," Ramsay takes a bite, then another, "absolutely delicious, if all of your food comes out as nice as this you have a very good chance of winning, Abel." he asserts as Abel smiles then turns back to stand in line.

"Abel's dish was superior, but Gina still managed to pull a point for her team. That puts us at a 4 to 4 stalemate. Let's see which of the next two breaks the tie, eh?" he motions for the last two contestants to approach...

Oh wait, that's me!

I carefully pick up my dish, hoping that it's managed to stay fresh and warm even after being the second to last person to serve him my meal. As I approach the table, Gordon watches me keenly. Following behind me is the blue team's contestant, a rugged looking Korean man with a playful glint in his brown eyes.

"The final two dishes now to break the tie, are you nervous?" he asks me, examining my face.

"Of course Chef, but that's more to do with the excitement of being here than anything else," I respond, maintaining eye contact.

"Alright then dear, what's the name and your dish, please?" he extends his hand for my dish.

I hand it to him while responding, "My name is (Y/N). Today I've prepared something I hope you will like, it's pan-seared scallops, with a white wine tarragon sauce topped with bacon."

Ramsay looks over the dish, "It looks delightful, you've clearly studied your presentation. But this sets your standard, you shan't disappoint me with lackluster presentation after this, correct Mrs. (Y/N)?"

Nodding quickly, "Of course Chef, I won't disappoint you."

"I'll hold you to that. Now let's see if it tastes as good as it looks." Chef Ramsay cuts into a scallop and rolls it in the white wine tarragon sauce and takes a bite.

"Absolutely heavenly. Thank you. I wish I could eat more, I really truly do." He smiles as he hands me back my dish. My hand lightly touches his as I take the plate from him, and I feel some blush run to my cheeks.

"Thank you, Chef." I say as I turn around quickly to get back in line. When I turn back to face him, he's still watching me, a curious look on his face. Then he turns to the blue team's contestant.

"Yes, the final dish. Your name and the dish, please?" he looks at his watch then back up at the contestant.

"Jay! My name is Jay, and I made you steak tips with a hearty mushroom sauce." Jay says as he hands the plate to Ramsay.

"The mushrooms look like, well, mush. Did you squish them?" he inquires.

"Uh, no... Well maybe... I thought it gets the flavor out into the sauce." Jay responds sheepishly.

"Well, that it does, but it also would have the same effect if I just ate the mushroom with the sauce." Ramsay makes a point to say, embarrassing Jay further.

"Let's see about the taste, already I'm disappointed." Ramsay takes a fork of steak and mushroom.

"It tastes decent, but you've overcooked the steak. When cooking steak without being given a specific temperature, you should always go for medium rare. This here is well done. Which, consequently, is not well done on your part. The final point goes to the red team, breaking the tie and bringing them to first place to win the competition!" Ramsay claps with the rest of the red team and the blue team looks somber as Jay returns to the line, crushed in defeat.

"For your reward, you shall be having a lovely dinner made by yours truly. I will show you how to make a delicious dinner for eight and you're welcome to ask me any questions you might have. Now for the blue team, you have a lot of work to do. The kitchen is an absolute mess, I expect it to be cleaned to perfection. Now, get to it. Red team, let's head up to your dorm where I will be preparing your most amazing dinner." Ramsay nods.

All of the contestants belt out at the same time, "Yes, Chef!" and my fellow red team contestants turn around to walk to the dorm's kitchen. As I was last in line to go up to Chef, I am also trailing behind everyone else as we leave for the dorms. I can feel Ramsay's presence behind me. He's so tall it feels like I'm being towered over, even though he's a few feet of respectful distance behind me.

"Well done on your dish today, (Y/N). You really pulled through for your team." I hear Ramsay say from behind me. I turn my head and smile timidly.

"Thank you, Chef. I studied hard to be here and I was serious when I said I wouldn't disappoint you." I assert, confident but still a bit nervous at his closeness.

"I believe you. Be sure to ask me any questions you might have during the preparation of dinner today. I'll help you as best as I can." he says sincerely, causing me to have to turn my head and blush.

Gordon Ramsay wants to help me become a better chef! Maybe I wasn't fooling myself when I set out on this path so many years ago. I only hope I can keep my promise to not disappoint him.


	5. Chapter 3- Cooking with the Chef

All of us filtered into the dorm area for the first time since arriving at Hell's Kitchen, giddy to spend time with Chef Ramsay. I could hear a few chefs wondering among themselves as to what Ramsay would be preparing for us. As we approached the dorm's kitchen, we were able to make out eight beautiful steaks resting on pans.

"I thought I would prepare a meal that would help everyone really get a leg up on not only the meat station but anywhere your culinary career takes you. Steaks are one of THE staple foods of any restaurant- and 'Gordon Ramsay's London Cuisine' is not exempt from that statement." Ramsay's voice came in clear from the back of the line as all of the red team filtered in and began to sit down in the chairs right outside of the kitchen where they could still get a good view.

"I was wondering if the tiebreaker of tonight would be interested in some hands-on learning with me?" he posited, looking to me for my answer with excited eyes.

"Yes, of course, Chef! I would love to help in any way I can." I responded eagerly, nodding.

He smiled widely and clasped his hands together, "Good! Let's get to work shall we?"

Ramsay takes two aprons off a nearby hook and hands me one, winking. "This will be quick but there is a lot to learn. Feel free to ask me questions during any point." he addressed all of the red team as he approached the steaks with me on his heels like an obedient pet.

"The very first step is to make sure that we have a hot pan. You never cook meat starting off in a cool pan, or it will not sear properly." he stated as he flicked on the burners.

"It will take a bit to heat up, so in the meantime, let's season the steaks. You'll want to put on enough salt that it begins to almost look like too much. This helps get a crisp sear. " he grabs a large pinch of salt for each steak that he seasons, and I follow suit, seasoning the steaks as quickly as I can. Our hands meet at the salt bowl multiple times, and Ramsay always lets me grab a pinch before him. A gentleman even in preparing food.

"Next up we'll want some large grains of pepper. Here you are dear, please season those for me?" he asks, handing me a pepper grinder.

I take the grinder with a nod and begin grinding out pepper onto the steaks. While I'm doing so, Ramsay addresses the red team.

"Now, one of the most important parts is a part I haven't shown you. Twenty minutes before you are ready to prepare your steak, you must remove them from the fridge. This helps them get to room temperature. If the steak is stone cold on the inside, you'll have to overcook the outside, which is just no good."

I've finished seasoning the steaks and turn around to face Ramsay, who has his back to me. His shoulders are taught and his forearms are muscular as he motions to the red team while he speaks. I'm mesmerized until he turns back to face me.

"Ah, lovely. Well done, (Y/N)." he smiles at me and I smile back, trying to hide the fact I was just checking him out. Then I realize I was facing the entire red team while I stared at him... hopefully they just thought I was concentrating on... whatever he was just saying.

"It looks like our pans are hot, which is excellent. Let's just add a touch of olive oil to each. We'll be cooking two steaks to a pan today, which makes for four burners used at the same moment. I'll watch over two, and you watch the other two please." he points to the two burners at the right of the stove.

"Chef, is there a preferred cut of steak for this cooking method?" Kalyani asked, leaning forward to get a closer look.

"For this particular demonstration, I am cooking top sirloin steaks for you all. Top sirloin is known to be much more tender than standard sirloin. It should be a real treat. Of course, you should always adjust your cooking times to fit the thickness of your steak, but this method should work for any similar cut. Good question, Kalyani." he nodded to her, then turned to me.

"Let's lay these steaks down to begin their sear, be sure to lay it away from yourself so no oil pops back at you." he lays his steaks down slowly into the oil and I follow along, keeping pace with him.

"Now, thirty seconds later, let's flip the steak and check out our sear. Here's your tongs, love." he hands me the tongs and takes a pair for himself.

We flip the steaks and the sear looks perfect on all of them. Some of the red team even claps as they see how lovely they look.

"Now after another thirty seconds have passed, we want to render the fat along the sides. Just take the tongs and lean the steaks up sideways in the pan. Now we lean the pan to the side, and let the oil run down and do the work for us." he expertly holds both pans to the side and I try to follow, but fall a bit behind due to never having cooked like this before. By the time I get my steaks on their side and begin rendering the fat, it appears he's already finished his.

He doesn't seem to mind my slowness and doesn't say anything to me about it. Rather, he moves off to the side and grabs a head of garlic and places it on a cutting board, crushing it with his palm to break it into cloves. He then takes each clove and just crushes it in his hand before adding one clove to each pan, including mine. I'd never seen anyone manage to crush a garlic clove with only their hands, and was quite amazed by his strength.

Finally, the sides of my steak have finished rendering and I lay down my steaks in the pan once more. The aroma of the garlic mixed with the steak was heavenly.

"Be sure to flip your steaks every minute, so that they get a nice even cook. Now, let's add a bit of thyme to the mix for a burst of delicious flavor." he takes the thyme and hands me some to add to my pans. I quickly add it in and continue flipping my steaks.

"Next up, I have some fresh butter which really brings the whole dish together." he adds about two tablespoons of butter to each pan and then passes me a spoon.

"Baste it with the butter and olive oil mixture and you'll really start to get an excellent steak with no burning whatsoever. Lastly, let's just take that garlic clove and rub it over the top to really seal in the flavor." he demonstrates. "Now turn off the gas and let's remove the steaks from the pan."

I managed to catch up to him while he was crushing the garlic cloves, so I am ready to remove my steaks at the same time as he is. We place the steaks on two cutting boards.

"Now you should let them rest for a few minutes. (Y/N), thank you for your assistance. I couldn't have done it without you." he beams and reaches out to shake my hand.

Taking his hand in mine, I feel him rub his thumb gently against the back of my hand, away from where the red team could see. It makes me feel hot under my collar, but it most likely didn't mean anything. Either way, I break eye contact, unable to keep from getting hotter if I were to keep looking into his bright blue eyes.

"Please take a seat with the others and I will come 'round to serve you." he releases my hand and turns to the cabinets.

Quickly I shuffle into place with the rest of the ladies, many of whom are still staring at him as he reaches up to grab plates from one of the highest cabinets. I notice Gina is watching his ass very carefully, her tongue stuck out between her lips ever so slightly. Bella is resting her tits on the table most likely fishing for more attention while she watches Ramsay's muscular arms move with efficiency.

When he turns back to us, Gina quickly pulls her tongue back into her mouth and makes like she was studying her fingernails instead. Bella, however, has no shame and continues to watch Ramsay like a hungry lioness. Or maybe like a cow, considering her udders are laid out in plain sight of everyone.

"I bet you're happy you aren't the blue team right now. You all saw the state of the kitchen!" he mimes wiping away sweat to the laughter of many of the girls. He then takes the plates and slides them towards each of us, stopping at Bella to give her a chance to move her breasts off the table first, rolling his eyes.

"Your most delicious steaks will be ready in a moment, I'm just going to cut them." he grabs a sharp, glinting knife and expertly cuts into the tender meat. He then slides the steak onto the top of the knife and holds it there, bringing it to my plate and sliding it off carefully.

He then carries on and eventually serves all of us. After serving, he pulls up a chair to the opposite side of the kitchen bar table and turns it so it's back is to us. Then he sits in the chair backward, his arms crossed and resting on the top rail of the backrest. His legs are spread apart on each side of the chair. I couldn't help my mind from wandering to straddling him on that chair... I quickly look down to my steak and attempt to cleanse my mind before I get too worked up. _What is this? Why am I thinking like this?_ I always knew he was my idol, but I didn't really think of him sexually until I was here... mere inches from him... getting his intense but caring attention.

"Is the steak alright, darling? You haven't touched much." he addressed me with concern, causing me to have to look at him again.

"Oh yes, Chef, it's absolutely delicious. I was just, uh, trying to cement everything you've taught me to memory is all. " I say somewhat shakily, trying desperately to keep a clean mind. His eyes bore into me like he could read my mind. _Oh good God, I surely hope not._

Thankfully his piercing eyes are moved off of my increasingly red face when Cindy chimes in with a rude remark.

"I wish I had gotten one of the steaks that Chef Ramsay made." she jeers, flicking a bit of the steak around her plate.

"What's the problem with the one that (Y/N) made, Cindy?" Ramsay probes.

"It's not cooked right. The side of fat isn't rendered properly." she forks a piece and holds it up for Ramsay's inspection. He leans up in the chair and examines it for a moment before scoffing.

"Cindy, that's expertly done. You're just looking to nitpick. If you can't tell that that steak is cooked to perfection, I'm worried about seeing what you'll fuck up on the meat station. If you don't want to eat it, give it to me. I know (Y/N) cooked it impeccably." he holds his hand out for the plate, much to Cindy's surprise.

Hesitantly, she hands the plate over as if she really didn't want to in the first place. Ramsay takes it and sets it down on the countertop in front of him and begins eating.

"Fucking delicious, (Y/N). Don't listen to Cindy, she's got marbles in her brain, it seems." he glares at Cindy before taking another bite, "besides, I told you I wish I could eat more of your cooking and now I am getting to much sooner than I expected. So thank you for that." his glare is immediately transformed into appreciation when he looks back to me.

I can barely stand all the praise I've been getting. Sheepishly, I look down at my plate once more. I feel the woman who's been sitting next to me, Taylor, put her hand on my back and rub it.

"Nice work (Y/N), I agree, it's delicious." her soft smile helps pull me out of my embarrassment.

"Thank you, both of you. I'm glad you like it." I address Taylor and Ramsay.

The rest of the dinner flies by quickly. Ramsay makes jokes and gets us all laughing. By the time we finish, the blue team finally starts filtering into the dorms, looking haggard.

"That's my cue ladies, I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning. We're having service tomorrow, so be sure to study your recipe booklets carefully. Good night, everyone." he nods as he stands up to leave and brushes past the blue team without a word.


	6. Chapter 4- The Dorms

Now that Chef Ramsay was gone, everyone went to their dorm bedrooms to check for the inevitable chef jackets, card and recipe booklet waiting for them on their beds. Though I knew the jacket would be there, the moment I saw it I felt a rush of happiness come over me. I'd been working as a chef at multiple different locations, but never did they supply me with a true chef's jacket. This will be my first one, and I'm going to wear it with pride.

I carefully placed the jacket in the small drawer next to the bed and picked up the card that had been set on top of it.

It read: "Thank you for becoming a part of Hell's Kitchen. You've been selected as part of an elite group of chefs for this opportunity to work for me at my London location, 'Gordon Ramsay's London Cuisine'. Please study your recipe booklets carefully and be ready to impress! Much love, Gordon Ramsay."

The bottom of the card was actually signed by Gordon himself! I squeaked a bit as I held the letter, then set it by the bedside table delicately.

Lastly, the daunting recipe booklet... I picked it up and began flipping through the pages. A few of the other chefs from the red team were lounging on their beds reading as well. I decided to step out and read in the main area for some better lighting.

With my recipe booklet held tight to my chest, I walked out and found a spot on the couch next to a lamp and began to read the recipes.

Thankfully, many of the recipes were the same as he'd had in previous seasons. I'd been sure to study those before I ever arrived, so a quick re-read was enough to cement them in my mind. It was interesting reading Gordon Ramsay's personal way of cooking. I had read his books, but this was different. Not only would I have to demonstrate mastery of the recipes, but I'd also have to demonstrate that I can follow his directions exactly, as I knew he'd be watching closely.

Suddenly, someone plopped next to me on the couch! It was Taylor, the girl who'd sat next to me earlier when we'd eaten dinner. She grinned and held her own recipe booklet up.

"Scary innit? So much to know and only one night to learn it! Do you want to practice with me?" she inquired, her brown eyes looking to me for my answer.

"I figured since you were chosen by Chef Ramsay to be his personal assistant today, you're probably the one he has high hopes for. I'd like to get some of that magic rubbed off on me!" she laughs.

A little embarrassed but flattered, I decided that I would be glad to make a friend here in the kitchen.

"For sure, Taylor. Let's be study buddies." I smile back at her and she pumps her fist in the air.

"Woo! We're gonna be the most prepared outta all these ladies! Blow him out of the water, right?" Taylor happily bounces in place on the couch.

"Yeah, sure Taylor" I respond,  
_blow him._

**AHEM.**_ Out of the water that is._ My naughty thoughts from earlier come bounding back into the forefront of my mind. I have to consciously push them back and out of sight. There's no time to be getting all worked up.

Taylor and I spent the next two hours quizzing and bouncing questions off each other. She was actually pretty damn good it seemed.

Sometime during our study session, Red had made her way to the couch and was sitting near us just listening. I hadn't even noticed her presence until we were gathering our materials to get ready for bed. She looked a bit shy but mumbled,

"You two were having some really interesting conversations about these recipes, I figured I'd learn something if I were a part of it, but I was too anxious to butt into the conversation... I'm sorry..." she nervously wrung her hands together.

"It's alright Mary, do you mind being called Red? I keep thinking about it when I see you, but I don't want to call you that if it'd make you uncomfortable." I ask, genuinely curious.

"Oh no that's quite alright, I've always been called Red even before I got here. Either for my hair or because I blush real easy. It's not a problem, I'm used to it." she gives a small smile as we finish gathering our things.

All three of us were the last to enter the dorm bedrooms at around 1am. We settled in our beds and attempted to get as much sleep as possible for tomorrow's service.

There's no way I was going to disappoint Chef Ramsay.


	7. Chapter 5- The First Dinner Service

Everyone in the dorms started waking up around 6am or so. We had some time for ourselves, so we all spent it further studying the recipe booklet.

Well, almost all of us did. Bella was spending as much time as she could trying to cozy up to the men on the blue team. It was easy for her to get their attention and she held it as long as she could. I'm fairly certain she was either being stupid and sabotaging herself, or she'd studied hard enough last night and was attempting to distract the men so they couldn't study. Either way, it wasn't hurting anyone on the red team but her potentially, so I wasn't bothered.

After an hour of study and breakfast that we had to prepare for ourselves, Sous Chefs Scott and Christina came upstairs and greeted us. I recognized Christina as last season's winner. It was pretty amazing to see her here as one of Chef Ramsay's Sous chefs. I quietly hoped that if I won, I would be able to assist Ramsay in the future just like Christina.

"I see everyone's wearing their jackets." Scott quickly glanced about the room, "Good, because it's time that we all get to the kitchen and begin prep for tonight's dinner service! Come on everyone, follow Christina and me."

Scott turned on his heel and walked down the stairs. Now Cindy looked about ready to pounce. She leaned into Gail and whispered loud enough for anyone who was paying attention to hear,

"Chef Scott has always been the sexiest man in Hell's Kitchen. What I wouldn't give to lick his bald head." she arched her eyebrows and started laughing, which evolved into a coughing fit as we walked down the stairs.

Gail looked alarmed and a bit put off, but otherwise didn't respond. Kalyani, on the other hand, had heard what Cindy said and almost cartoonishly reeled backward to put herself much further back in line, as far away from Cindy as she could get.

We filed into the kitchens, the women lined up wearing their new red chef jackets while the men lined up in their kitchen on the opposite side. Ramsay was waiting for us at the head of the kitchens and nodded his head in greeting.

"Good morning everyone, today we'll be prepping for our first dinner service of this season. I have high hopes for you all, please oh please do NOT let me down. I have a gift for you all,"

He leaned down and pulled out a box filled with thin black packages.

"Here are your new knife sets. They are quite sharp, so please be careful, right?" Ramsay passed each set-out and we all passed the kits down the line until everyone had received one.

Giddily, I took the knife set and opened it, examining the perfect blades inside. A beautiful set given to me by Chef Ramsay himself. I'd treasure them for as long as I lived.

"Alright now that that's sorted, we have a lot of prep for this dinner service. Please be quick. Service is starting at 5:00 pm tonight. I'll leave you to it." Ramsay nodded curtly, then turned and went back into his office. I wondered what he'd be doing in there for the next ten hours before dinner service, but I didn't get much time to think about it before Sous Chef Christina was hurrying the red team along.

"Come on girls, you don't want to lose the first dinner service, that'd set you all off on the wrong foot for sure and Ramsay doesn't forget things like that." she leaned in a bit, "and I have a hundred dollar bet with Scott that you all win. So please don't make me regret it." she grinned at us and then proceeded to shoo us along.

The majority of us seemed confident in our prep, though there were some missteps, everyone helped each other along and we made it through prep with no big issues.

The blue team fared much worse. I could hear occasional cursing coming from their side of the kitchen. Maybe Bella really was sabotaging them for us this morning?

The fastest 10 hours of my life so far passed in the blink of an eye. Chef Ramsay flitted down the stairs and approached the head of the kitchen as quiet as a cat. I'm not sure anyone but myself saw him standing there, in fact. He noticed me looking at him and gave a small wink with the hint of a smile. I couldn't help but smile back.

Then he clapped his hands together, startling many of the chefs from both teams.

"Let's go ladies and gentlemen, line up please. Come on, hurry now!" he clapped once more.

"Right, I hope you all are ready for tonight. It's going to be a tough day but I expect excellence. Show me you deserve that expectation. So, blue team. Garrett. What are our entree meals for this service?" Ramsay poised, watching Garrett expectantly.

Garrett winced and looked across the room at Ramsay helplessly, partially shrugging his shoulders.

"What, Garrett, did you not study? What have you been prepping all this time? Come on big boy I expect so much more out of you." he pinched the bridge of his nose then sighed, "take your recipe book back upstairs and study and don't come back down until you can recite the entire menu PERFECTLY. Do I make myself clear?" Ramsay barked.

Garrett nodded profusely, grabbed his recipe book and nearly launched himself up the stairs. Many of the blue team members shook their heads and sighed.

"Can any of you name the entrees for tonight?" Ramsay asked the blue team somewhat hopelessly.

"Chef, it's filet of beef, rack of lamb, crispy skin salmon and miso glazed cod." Pietro's commanding voice boomed from the very back of the blue kitchen lineup.

"Very well done, Pietro. Thank you. I expect you all won't forget this now." Chef Ramsay turned away from the kitchen and towards his maitre d', who'd only just arrived behind Ramsay.

"Jean-Philippe, please open Hell's Kitchen." he nodded towards Jean-Philippe, who returned the nod and made his way elegantly towards the doors.

Customers began to file in, quickly filling Hell's Kitchen to full capacity. This would be my first service serving an entirely full dining room. Usually, the restaurants I worked with didn't have half the reputation of Hell's Kitchen and thus had a much more lax dinner service. I knew there would be no time for rest and that everything had to be absolutely perfect. Anxiety clawed at me but I pushed it down, there was no way I'd fail Ramsay. Especially not after I'd told him to his face that I wouldn't.

Bella and Cindy were assigned to the appetizer station. Up next were Gina and Red at the fish station. Taylor and Kalyani were on dessert.

I was assigned to the meat station with Gail and was eager to show off my skills. I felt especially blessed having had a personal cooking lesson in steaks from Ramsay just the day before I was expected to cook meats perfectly. Nothing was going to keep me from perfection today.

The red team's waiter arrived with a ticket quickly.

" Four pan seared scallops and two lobster risotto, please." Ramsay called out to us.

"Yes, Chef!" came the resounding response from the kitchen.

Bella immediately dropped the noodles for the risotto, while Cindy got right on to cooking scallops. Those of us at other stations couldn't help but watch in anticipation for them to finish.

Suddenly, Ramsay cut in angrily. "What are you doing, Cindy? You've started the scallops already? They take four minutes to cook and lobster risotto takes eighteen! You're already wasting food and we haven't even served the first table!"

Cindy apologized and removed the scallops from the heat, leaving them in the pan. Ramsay walked over briskly then turned the pan over into the garbage bin.

"These will never cook properly now that you've started them fourteen minutes early. Get a grip," he growls at Cindy then walks back over to the blue kitchen to call out their ticket.

His growl was very, very nice. I couldn't stop myself from imagining what other noises he might make that would sound so feral and... _there I go again._ I sigh as I attempt to pull my mind away from those thoughts once more.

Finally, appetizers managed to cook and went up to the pass. Ramsay inspected them and turned around with a hugely disappointed look on his face.

"These scallops are raw, Cindy. You started them too early and now you're starting them too late. Everything will have to be re-done. Good God Cindy you're hampering your whole team. Will someone help her?" he asks of us.

Quickly I volunteer. "Yes Chef, I can cook the scallops."

"Great, I know you know how to cook them. Please explain to Cindy what she's doing wrong." he nods to me then turns back to the blue kitchen. I make my way over to the appetizers where Cindy is looking incredibly flustered.

"I don't know why I sent those up. I'm so nervous I'll get eliminated. Please teach me, (Y/N)..." she whispers under her breath. I pat her back and then begin explaining exactly what she should do.

Finally, appetizers are ready once more. I bring up our new batch of scallops to the pass and slide them next to Ramsay. He turns to the plate and touches the scallops, then lifts up the plate and carries it to the front of the red kitchen.

"(Y/N)?" he asks.

"Yes, Chef?" I responded, a bit nervous.

"They look beautiful. Spectacular job. Hopefully, Cindy learned from you and can handle her own station now, because I need you on meats." he compliments me, then plates the scallops.

I'm on cloud nine as I head back to the meat station. The rest of the dinner service passes in a blur of filet of beef and rack of lamb. Not one of my dishes are sent back, and neither are any of the dishes that Gail cooked.

Gina and Red seemed to have a bit of difficulty with cooking the skin of the salmon properly but quickly recovered. Desserts went off without a hitch.

Amazingly, the red team managed to finish dinner service. The blue team didn't fare as well, however. Their prep was wrong and they didn't have enough scallops to finish getting out appetizers.

At the end of dinner service, Ramsay asked both the kitchens to switch off. It seems the blue team had managed to hobble into a completed service with three of their members- Alex, Dave, and Shaun- having been kicked out of the kitchen.

"Well, it's quite obvious that the red team has pulled a win today. Congrats, red team and thank you for not absolutely tanking as the blue team has done. You all can go upstairs and relax until elimination time. On the other hand, the blue team, deliberate on the names of two people you don't want on your team anymore and then get back down here. Now get out of my sight." Ramsay waves his hand to dismiss us.

"Oh, and (Y/N)? He calls to me from the front of the kitchen. I turn around to face him while everyone else filters out of the room.

"Yes, Chef?" I inquire.

"Stellar job. Thank you for saving appetizers. Without you, your team wouldn't have even made it past the first table. Absolutely well done. I'm proud of you." he gave me a beaming smile then waved to me before turning around and heading back to his office.

Happily, I rejoined the rest of the red team, still floating on cloud nine.


	8. Chapter 6- Elimination

Most of the girls and I sat around on the couches waiting to be called down for the blue team's elimination. Cindy tapped my shoulder and jerked her neck to the side to signal that I should follow her.

She took me into the hallway and put her hand on my arm.

"Thank you so much for keeping Chef Ramsay off my case today. I know I'd be up for elimination if it weren't for you. Let me know if there's any way I can repay you. Thank you." she sounded sincere while her grip on my arm tightened and her nails dug into my skin.

"Of course Cindy, I'll keep that in mind. Really it's no problem." I responded carefully, trying to nonchalantly remove my arm from her vice grip.

Cindy smiled gratefully at me and released my arm, which had a white imprint of her fingers on it for a few seconds before normal blood flow resumed. I rubbed my arm to facilitate getting feeling back while I walked back towards the couch.

My journey to the couch was cut short by the telephone ringing. It was on a stand in the middle of the room, and since I was the only one who was still standing up, I went for it.

"Hello, it's time for the blue team's elimination. Would you ladies gather in the dining room, please?" Ramsay's voice came in clear over the phone.

"Of course Chef, we'll be right down." I answered.

"Lovely, thank you, (Y/N). See you soon." his smooth British accent always made my name sound extra beautiful. It also made me somewhat giddy to know that he recognized me over the phone just by my voice.

"Come on ladies, Chef has called us down to get seated before the elimination happens." I addressed the girls.

They all stood up, Gina especially, she bounced right off the couch without even using her hands and took the lead down the hallway towards the stairs.

Taylor waited for me to approach her then walked down the stairs with me.

"I can't believe we actually did well on our very first service. How often does that happen?" she chatted.

"Not very!" I responded, laughing a bit, "hopefully we can keep it up. We've never seen an all-female final five yet but we might have the makings for it!" I looked at Taylor, who was smiling and nodding her agreement.

"So long as you and I make it to the end, I'll be happy." she added right as we entered the dining room. Everyone went silent as we gathered in a booth together.

About two minutes later, the blue team filed in looking haggard. Many of them were making sour faces at each other as they lined up in a typical fashion to wait for Ramsay.

Just a few moments later, Ramsay entered the dining room and walked until he was about twelve feet away from the blue team. He clasped his hands together in front of him.

"Well, blue team. I trust you've come to a consensus?" he asked, eyes scanning the men.

There were a few nods from the blue team, to which he responded, "Great. Alex, your first nominee and why, please."

Alex cleared his throat before responding, "Yes Chef. We decided on Dave as our first pick. He really dropped the ball on appetizers by not prepping enough scallops for dinner service."

Ramsay nodded. "Right, and your second nominee?"

"Our second nominee is me, Chef." Alex sighed, "my team decided that I had one too many screwed up risottos."

"Don't forget the part where you tried to argue with me over how to make my own fucking food menu." Chef Ramsay added, his eyes piercing.

"Yes, Chef. That too." Alex dropped his gaze like a dog being reprimanded.

"OK. Dave. Alex. Come here." he pointed his finger in front of himself and waited for them to approach.

"Dave, please tell me why you deserve to stay in Hell's Kitchen." Gordon shifted his shoulders back and crossed his arms, listening.

"Well Chef, I know I made a big mistake by not prepping enough scallops- but I KNOW I'm not the worst chef here." Dave stated, getting a bit worked up.

"Who is the worst chef on your team then, Dave?" Ramsay inquired.

"Alex, Chef. Not only did he over and then undercook the risotto, but he also started an argument with you about it. That's not how you learn and improve."

To this there was a small nod from Ramsay, he tilted his head a bit as if considering Dave's words. "Right, then Alex please tell me why you deserve to stay in Hell's Kitchen."

"Chef, you gotta give me another chance. I'm a high-level chef who's worked on the line for eight years. I know what I am doing, I just let my nerves get to me. Please Chef..." he pleaded.

Chef Ramsay stood for a moment, then uncrossed his arms and placed his palms together in front of him.

"The person leaving Hell's Kitchen today is..." he eyed the two men in front of him for a moment then pointed at one, "Alex, bring me your jacket. Sorry, but just because you have experience on the line doesn't mean you know how to prepare my menu better than I do. You should've come here to learn, not pick fights. I can't have that kind of animosity in the kitchen."

Alex hung his head and removed his jacket, handing it over to Ramsay who took it and folded it over his arm.

"Goodbye, and good luck." Ramsay added as Alex wordlessly exited the building.

"Dave, I expect you to step it up from now on, right? I don't want to see you in front of me again for something as basic as prep. You hear me?" his eyes bore into Dave.

"Of course Chef. You can count on me." Dave nodded seriously, then turned to rejoin the blue team lineup.

"Great, get some sleep everyone. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight." Ramsay waved the blue team off, then came to stand next to the booth that the red team had gathered at.

" I see great leadership qualities in a few of you and I'd like to hear your voices more in the kitchen. Make my job a little easier and help each other out, right? Good work red team. Keep it up." he then opened one arm towards the stairs in a gesture for us to head back to the dorms.

"Yes, Chef!" we shouted all together as we made our way back to the stairs.

Taylor started chatting to me once more, but I wasn't really paying attention. I looked behind myself and saw that Ramsay was still watching me. His hands were held together in front of himself, but he raised two fingers and dipped his head to me with a dazzling grin.

Taylor noticed I wasn't paying attention and turned her head to follow my gaze, but Ramsay had already turned away and began walking up the steps to his office.

She poked me in the rib with her elbow, "Hey, (Y/N), you know he's married right?" she asked, causing me to choke a bit as I turned back to face her.

"Uh, yeah I know that. I didn't mean anything by..." but Taylor raised her hand dismissively.

"Hey, it's a tough gig and everyone needs a break sometimes," she gave me a knowing smile and leaned in close to my ear to whisper, "even if it's just staring at some eye candy. 'Sides, I think he likes you too. A little innocent flirting never hurt anyone."

My face flushed red which I'm sure gave away what Taylor had already deduced.

I most definitely had a crush on Gordon Ramsay.


	9. Chapter 7- Interviews

So, as opposed to how it seems on the television, Hell's Kitchen contestants aren't just pulled aside right after something happens and asked their opinion on it. At the end of the day, each of us is pulled one by one to the interview room in which we're asked questions. These questions can be anything from basic "How are you feeling?" to "what do you think of (x) contestant?"

Something I realized early on is that this is still a TV show and they are fishing for any sort of drama they can air to the American public. They also are not above highly editing together voice clips to make it sound like I'd said something I didn't actually say. We also have to keep a mic on and running almost the entire duration of these five weeks of Hell, so watching what I say is imperative. The only day we'd have off both the cameras and the microphones is Sunday- and all of us were already pining for it to arrive. These are all things I try to keep in the back of my mind as I'm finally called for my interview.

"Welcome, (Y/N). Please sit down. Have you been having a good time?" the camera crew- one cameraman, one boom operator, and the interviewer- all went silent waiting for my response.

"Of course! I've been training to come here ever since I was 16. This is really a dream come true for me." I responded quite happily.

"That's great, how did it feel to save the red team on the first night's service?" the interviewer probed.

"I felt like I earned Chef Ramsay's trust when I took over and helped Cindy with her station. She was floundering, but I helped pull her back up and she was able to help herself after that."

So far the questions were too easy. I knew they'd heard at least part of what Taylor had said, I was just waiting for-

"We heard Taylor tell you that Chef Ramsay was married. What was that about?" now the camera crew was really listening. It felt like I'd been dropped into a shark tank and they were swimming around me with hungry eyes.

"Oh, nothing. I guess she was just curious as to if I knew. I did, though. Wasn't news to me." I tried to shrug off the question, but the interviewer wasn't satisfied.

"So you're not interested in him?" he leaned in closer.

"Only as a teacher." I tried to sound convincing, "the best cooking teacher in the world." I added.

Fortunately, it seems they didn't catch the tail end of Taylor's whisper to me, or I'm sure they'd be hounding me harder than they already are.

"Alright then Ms. (L/N), you're welcome to return to the group now. Please send in Taylor after you." the interviewer smiled, but there was no kindness behind it.

I walked into the lounge area. Taylor and Gina were sitting on the couch chatting about which blue team member would be eliminated next. Gina seemed really insistent on Dave being upped.

"He's just too goofy. He can't stay serious for ten minutes. He's gonna get on Chef's bad side with a mistimed joke. Just you watch." Gina said confidently.

"Hey Taylor, they asked me to come to get you." I tapped her shoulder.

Taylor turned to me with a smile and stood up.

"Don't worry, (Y/N), I've got your back." she winked at me as she left for the interview room.

I surely hoped that she wouldn't say anything about what she'd deduced about my budding infatuation with Chef Ramsay. All I could do was sit back and trust her. At least I never verbally confirmed anything so I knew that even if she did give me away, all it could be counted as was hearsay.

Plopping down in Taylor's spot, I let out a heavy sigh. Gina seemed intent on continuing to talk to someone.

"(Y/N), what did they ask you about in the interview room?" she tilted her head.

"Oh you know, just things about our first service. Like 'How do I like it here?' Just basic stuff." I avoided telling her too many specifics.

Gina rested her chin on her palm and leaned her elbow into the arm of the sofa. Her tattoos were bright rainbow hues of color, but she was a bit too far away for me to make the shapes out.

"What are your tattoos anyway, Gina?" not only trying to change the subject but also genuinely curious.

"Oh, these are all of my favorite flowers. I couldn't pick just one so I had the artist put them all together. Like a permanently blooming bouquet. If only I could tattoo the smell of each flower onto them, I think I'd die happy." she gave me a genuine smile, "I love when people ask. You don't get two ultra bright sleeve tattoos without hoping people ask you what they are, you know?"

"For sure. They're beautiful." and they really were. I'd never gotten a tattoo as I'm too afraid of needles, but I did envy people who had gotten artwork they loved permanently inked into their skin.

Gina and I talked a bit more about her tattoos and then some about our last service and before I knew it, Taylor was back by the couch. She slid into place between Gina and myself and put her arms around each of our shoulders.

"Ladies, we're gonna win this. The boys got nothin' on the dream team. Look, even the girl I thought would be causing us problems is always off with the blue team anyways." she used her hand that was on my shoulder to point towards Bella, who was making goo-goo eyes at Abel. Abel was ignoring her as best as he could, turning up his eyes to the ceiling rather than look down at her and invariably at her chest, which she thrust forward.

"Yep, we're golden." Taylor rested her head on my shoulder and contentedly sighed. "I ~love~ no drama."


	10. Chapter 8- Wakey Wakey Eggs and Fish?

Early the next morning we are woken up by loud pots and pans banging in the kitchen. Groggily, I throw my pillow over my head and try to squeeze out the noise.

Gail, on the other hand, decides that she's had enough. She quickly gets out of bed and exits the dorm. Shortly after, I can hear her berating someone.

"You've gone and woken up everyone at five thirty in the morning! What in the world are you doing?" her voice sounds wholly intimidating even through my pillow ear cover.

I couldn't really make out the reply, but it sounded as if it was one of the men on the blue team. I got curious and decided to quietly slip from bed and peek outside the door to see who was being reprimanded.

Jay is standing dumbfounded in the middle of the kitchen, holding a pan midair that has what looks to be partially cooked scrambled eggs.

"We've got an incredibly long, grueling, painful day ahead of us and you've woken up everyone with your careless banging!" she leers angrily at Jay. Even though her anger, she maintains a perfectly stiff posture, reminding me somewhat of Professor McGonagall when she chastised Harry Potter for exploring school grounds past curfew.

He slowly sets down the pan of eggs and quietly mutters, "I was only trying to make everyone breakfast..."

"Even if that was your intention, we don't normally have to be awake until seven and anything you'd make now would be cold by that point!" Gail hissed through clenched teeth.

By this point, everyone was either awake and milling about or groaning dazedly in bed. It seems our third day in Hell is starting early, and not even because of some ridiculous stunt, but because of one feckless member of the blue team attempting to get on everyone's good side.

Gail looks around and notices more and more sleepy and bedraggled people filtering into the room.

"Fantastic. Good luck to both of our teams. We'll be lucky to barely pull off whatever crazy scheme Chef Ramsay has cooked up for us today." Gail said with her words full of venom as she locked her steely gaze onto Jay, who made a small defeated sound.

We'd all managed to get to bed at around 12 am last night, so I definitely held some resentment towards Jay as well. I couldn't help but nod my silent agreement with Gail, and I noticed no one on the blue team even bothered to try to help defend him.

Slowly but surely our early day got started. I noticed Garrett hopping onto the exercise machine as he'd done yesterday morning. Mary, Shaun, Dave, Cindy, and Kalyani all passed around bowls and poured out some cereal and milk. Abel and Dylan sat on the couch and flipped through their recipe booklets together. Bella was most likely in the bathroom attempting to look as good as possible before revealing herself to the public. Taylor finally walked out of the women's dorm, her eyes drooping. The sound of what I could only assume was Pietro's snores filtered out from the men's dorm. I was amazed that he'd managed to sleep through all this fuss.

Gina finally broke the tension between a bristling Gail and a diffident Jay by picking up Jay's still half cooked eggs and resuming cooking them. This seemed to break Jay from his stupor, and he joined Gina in making enough eggs for everyone who was awake, turning his back to Gail. Still fuming, Gail sat down on a kitchen bar stool and glared daggers at the back of Jay's head. I made a mental note to never wake Gail up if I wanted to live.

"What's all the ruckus about..." the sleepy voice of Taylor murmured at my side, her curly brown hair in a tangled mess, "I sure hope today is an easy day. Then hopefully we can hop back in bed and sleep off this terrible morning wake-up."

Right as we all finished our breakfasts, Pietro and Bella both emerged from their respective dorms. Almost immediately after, Sous chefs Scott and Christina came upstairs to greet us.

"Early risers today, eh? I see you all are looking to get a head start on today's work. " Christina joked, smiling at us, "good thing too. Chef Ramsay will need to be seeing you all in no more than three minutes outside the doors of Hell's Kitchen. You won't be needing your chef's jackets. Just wear something you don't mind getting dirty. Hurry up now, everyone."

Scott and Christina walked back downstairs. The rest of us exchanged foreboding glances before- as quickly as we could muster- getting dressed and making our way downstairs.

The glare of the early morning sun outside of Hell's Kitchen caused the majority of us to either squint or hold a hand over our eyes. That was when we noticed Chef Ramsay was at the bow of a relatively large fishing boat!

He looked devastatingly handsome wearing a crisp white ship captain uniform, sunglasses, and a captain's hat. The parts of his blond hair that made their way out from beneath his hat were shining like liquid gold in the sun.

"Good morning chefs! Come on up!" Ramsay shouted to us, then threw a knotted rope ladder over the side of the boat. Pietro laughed, then quickly realized that Chef Ramsay was serious.

We climbed into the boat as best as we could. Garrett and Ramsay both had to reach over the side and take each of Pietro's arms to help pull him onto the deck of the boat after he could only make it halfway up the rope ladder. I was last in line to board the boat, and Ramsay reached his hand down to grasp mine. Though I could have made the climb myself, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to be pulled onto the boat by those muscular arms. After pulling me up, Ramsay continued to hold my hand for just a moment longer than necessary. When he took his hand from mine, I noticed a small paper folded in my palm, which I quickly balled into a closed fist to hide it from the cameras. He played it off perfectly, turning right to the other chefs.

"I see you all are ready to get dirty, yes? Today, we'll be catching our own fish to serve at tomorrow's dinner service!" Ramsay looked excitedly at all of us. Dave grinned widely and pumped his fist, but no one else seemed to share his enthusiasm.

"Oh come on now, it'll be fun." Gordon exaggeratedly pouted, which caused a few laughs here and there. I distractedly ran my thumb over the paper in the palm of my hand and wished desperately that I could read what it said without drawing attention.

"We'll be headed to the Santa Monica Pier just about 30 minutes away. Though this is a beautiful beach, we won't be lounging about. We will spend all this morning and afternoon fishing, and then return to Hell's Kitchen for our real competition- cleaning, gutting and filleting all the fish that we catch!" Ramsay clapped his hands together. Pietro groaned.

"Is there a problem, Pietro?" Ramsay turned to the stout man, who was holding his stomach.

"Chef, I haven't eaten breakfast today and I get seasick. Like, really bad." he looked pitifully at Chef Ramsay.

Ramsay held his hand to his chin while resting his elbow in his other palm. He thought for a moment then responded, "Alright Pietro, you're welcome to sit out this one."

Pietro looked shocked at the possibility of having an easy day, but that didn't last long as Ramsay continued,  
"Go meet with Scott and Christina, I'm sure they can find something for you to do while the rest of us are out on the ocean." he motioned for Pietro to climb back down the boat. He struggles, but eventually makes his way down without injury.

Shortly after Pietro starts walking towards the entrance doors, Ramsay instructs us all to take a seat. The truck towing our boat started up and pulled out of the parking lot of Hell's Kitchen. Chef Ramsay stands at the bow looking out at the road like he's sailing the open seas.

The small folded paper in my hand causes me to burn with curiosity. Ramsay obviously wanted to tell or ask me something, but what was it? My mind tumbles over the possibilities as the truck tugs us towards our destination.


	11. Chapter 9-What a Catch

We arrived at the Santa Monica pier in no time at all. The truck helped to lower our fishing boat into the water. Chef Ramsay took the helm, steering us backward carefully until the boat was safely into the water.

Red peered carefully over the edge of the boat, "This is my first time being on a boat. Actually, this is my first time seeing the ocean, too." she nervously stated to no one in particular, eyes locked on the endlessly deep blue water.

Dave sauntered up to Red and tapped her shoulder, breaking her daze, "you know Red, I'm a really good swimmer. If you fall in, you'll be fine, I've got you!" Dave made a Superman pose and smiled at her.

She looked even more afraid, however, "I wasn't even thinking about falling in! Is that going to happen? Does that happen often? Oh God..." she started wringing her hands together.

Dave deflated, then sat down next to her, "aw Red, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought that's what you were worried about is all." he mumbled.

After that exchange, I knew that Red was probably going to be paralyzed for the remainder of however long we were going to be out fishing.

"(Y/N)?" came Chef Ramsay's voice from the cockpit of the boat. I quickly made my way to him.

"Yes, Chef?" I asked.

"Would you mind being a dear and grabbing the bait and tackle box from the cabin? We need to start getting everyone's lines baited." he requested, his blue eyes still steady on the ocean before him.

"Of course Chef, I'll go get it now," I responded, making my way below deck. The ship wasn't that large, and below deck, I couldn't make out any camera crew. This was my chance!

Hurriedly, I opened the note that Ramsay had secretly given me. On it was a single question,

"Are you single?" written in fine penmanship.

My eyes widened and my heart began to pound. Was this for real? It was such a small gesture and reminded me of being in middle school passing notes. Though, with all the cameras, this was probably the best way for him to ask. But why me? Wasn't he married, anyway? I had so many questions and no real way to answer them. Or answer him! How was I going to respond to this without drawing attention? Oh good God, my face is heating up.

Should I even answer him? What would he hope to get out of this anyways?

Pondering my options, I searched for the bait and tackle box.

After about a minute, I find the box and take hold of it. My heart is still pounding out of my chest.

I decided that I would respond to him. After all, he wouldn't have asked me if he didn't have a plan...

With new resolve, I made my way back to the cockpit of the ship. This time, Ramsay turned to look at me over his shoulder. When his eyes locked on mine, I slowly and purposefully shook my head 'yes'. Almost immediately, I could see a fire behind his eyes ignite. Walking towards him, I held out the tackle box.

"Thank you, darling." his voice purred. He took the box from my hands and gave me a knowing gaze before brushing past me to the deck of the ship.

"Everyone, please come grab some bait! We'll need to catch as many fish as possible so please don't be wasteful. Does everyone know how to hook a worm?" he asked.

There was a mixture of "Yes" and "No"s.

"Right, for those of you that don't know how to do this, it's really quite easy," Ramsay said as he grabbed a worm and threaded it through the hook cleanly.

Bella gasped, "but, that worm is alive!" she nearly shrieked.

"Well yes, that's what attracts the fish," Ramsay stated.

Bella looked almost green, "someone is going to have to hook my line for me."

Dylan, eager to help, made his way over to Bella and hooked a worm for her. Bella coquettishly looked at Dylan through her eyelashes,  
"thank you, handsome. You'll help me hook each of these yucky worms, won't you?"

Entranced, Dylan nodded his head.

"Thank you baby." she smiled and blew a kiss to Dylan. He went red immediately and nodded, gulping.

Ramsay rolled his eyes,  
"Right, now let's all cast our lines and get to catching tomorrow's fresh fish dinner!" he clapped his hands together.

Throughout the entire time we were fishing, I kept stealing glances at Ramsay. Usually, he was nonchalantly steering the boat through the ocean waters. But once or twice our eyes locked, and I could feel an intensity in his gaze that I'd never felt before from anyone.

Occasionally he'd make his way out onto the deck with us to examine the fish we caught and name the species. Each time one of us would catch a fish, we'd cheer for each other.

Bella was making herself known, carousing among the men and flirting up a storm. She especially seems to have Dylan and Dave worked up over her. Jay also watched Bella closely, but I wasn't sure if it was because he desired her attention as well, or because he was enjoying the spectacle that is Bella's non-stop toying with the other men.

She walked over to Dave and stood next to him, watching him fish and completely ignoring her own pole. She touched his arm and Dave leaned against the side of the boat in an effort to look cool, which was immediately thwarted by his line reeling out of control. He raced to his fishing rod, but it was too late- the line snapped as soon as he took the pole in his hand.

"Oh, come on..." Ramsay groaned as he turned to see a bewildered Dave holding a pole with no fishing line.

"Sorry Chef..." Dave responded, defeated.

Bella laughed haughtily and sauntered over to Dylan and whispered something in his ear. They both began to laugh. Dave looked hurt.

"Well, go on and get a new fishing line. You don't get a free pass for being lazy watching your rod," Gordon pointed to the tackle box, which Dave then went to retrieve a new line from.

"And you, Bella, I wouldn't have expected you to be one to ignore a pole. Get on it, right?" he motioned for her to return to her fishing rod while she bowed her head in embarrassment.

"Yes Chef..." she quietly mumbled.

Shortly thereafter, my line started tugging wildly. I tried to reel it in, but it was tugging so viciously it was all I could do to keep the line from reeling further out. After a bit of a struggle, I had everyone's eyes on me. The fish still wouldn't reel in, and I worried about snapping the line. Suddenly, I felt a warm torso behind me.

"Here, love, let me." Ramsay's breath tickled my neck and sent shivers down my spine. He reached for the fishing rod and I was nearly squeezed between his arms.

"Y-yes Chef." I managed to say, scooting out of the way just in the nick of time before he would have surely enveloped me.

Expertly, Chef Ramsay reeled in the fish and caught it in a net.

"My my, (Y/N)! This is a delicious white sea bass. Absolutely excellent!" he beamed at me.

Everyone else came up to inspect the fish and cheered. Ramsay then took the fish to the coolers below deck.

"Nice work, (Y/N)!" Taylor popped up next to me, startling me a bit.

"Thanks, Taylor," I responded a bit out of breath from my close encounter with Ramsay's embrace.

The rest of the fishing trip went by swiftly. Red managed to pull in a fish even larger than my white sea bass with the help of Dave, who proudly showed the fish off as "Red's catch-o-the-day" (too much blushing from Red) before taking it below deck to the coolers.

When the sun got to about 3/4s across the sky, Ramsay pulled our fishing boat into port.

"Well done everyone, I hope you all are ready for the upcoming cleaning, gutting and filleting challenge." he mischievously grinned as the boat was reeled onto the transport truck. Already sore from pulling in fish all day, pretty much everyone groaned at the realization that the work was only halfway done.

I, on the other hand, was unable to feel anything but elation and anticipation. Ramsay's eyes passed over me once again, and I felt as if a hot poker had been driven into my chest.

This was going to be a very interesting next few weeks in Hell.


	12. Chapter 10- Fillet Me, Daddy

Hell's Kitchen came into view just as the men finished piling the fish-filled coolers onto the deck. Pietro, Scott, and Christina stood on the front steps of the restaurant and waved at us as we approached.

When the truck pulled our boat into the parking lot, Ramsay threw the knotted rope ladder and made his way down. Dave saw his opportunity to be useful and made his way halfway down the rope ladder, then held his hands out for the coolers to be passed downwards. Garrett and Shaun made quick work of moving them off the boat, and soon enough they were cleared from the deck.

I was one of the first to climb down the ladder once the fish was transported. Ramsay stood at the base of the ladder and helped me down, resting his hand on the small of my back for support.

Everyone who was disembarked from the boat had started to carry the coolers inside. Reluctantly, I left Ramsay's side to help others.

"EEEEEEEE!" came a high pitched squeal from behind me. I whipped my head quickly to see Bella held in Ramsay's arms, her foot tangled in the rope ladder.

Bella's face was flushed, but she took the moment of being held to turn her chest into his, pressing her large breasts against him. Her cat-like eyes peered at me from over his shoulder as she did so, taunting me. I felt jealousy rise in my chest like a pot boiling over.

"Clumsy sod!" Chef Ramsay chastised Bella as Dave hurriedly removed the rope from her.

As soon as the rope was gone, Ramsay let go of Bella. She looked flustered, but the embarrassment on her face quickly had shifted to something closer to lust.

"Sorry, Chef. You know how blondes are. Clumsy me!" she joked, shrugging while she flipped her bleached hair over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Not really, Bella." Ramsay stated, "in case you haven't noticed, I am blond as well, and I haven't made a fool out of myself. Let's hope you're less ungainly in the kitchen." he stopped for a moment and then added, "if blonde is even your true hair color."

He then made to peer at the roots of her hair, to which she shrugged away.

"Get to helping the others move the coolers you blundering twit," Gordon said as he turned away from her and back to help the last few people down the ladder.

Bella saw me standing at the base of the steps to Hell's Kitchen and gave me a predatory smile as she brushed past me, grabbing one end of a cooler Gina was working to lift. As she lifted her side, she leaned towards me and hissed into my ear,

"Someday soon, Ramsay is going to appreciate my... 'assets'. I have a lot to offer him. Unlike you." the glint in her eye was vicious as she turned away from me and carried a cooler inside with Gina.

The jealousy I had felt earlier multiplied by ten and I became restless. Trying to quell my inner torment, I grabbed a cooler and single-handedly carried it into the kitchen. It was extremely heavy but the hatred I felt towards Bella could have empowered me to flip a car over at that moment.

As the last of the coolers were brought in, Ramsay approached the head of the kitchen. Bella moved herself to stand in front of me as Chef began speaking. I scoffed and stepped further back, moving until I was next to Taylor instead. Taylor noticed how Bella had been acting towards me and gave me a knowing glance.

"Right, chefs. This will be your second challenge. We'll be cleaning, gutting and then finally filleting all the fish we caught. Right now, our sous chefs are separating out the fish. Each of you will have one fish, so don't screw it up. For this challenge, each filet must be perfect to earn a point for your team. If I notice anything at all off about it, you will not receive a point. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Chef!" all of us responded loudly.

"Excellent. Let me show you how I expect you to carry out this challenge, so no one will have the excuse of not knowing how. Come close and watch." Ramsay waved us forward.

We made our way over to where we could better see him. Taylor and I leaned in from over the stoves to watch. Bella once again tries to cozy up to Chef, very nearly leaning over his shoulder to watch him work. I can feel my hand involuntarily ball into a fist.

Ramsay reaches down below the countertop and pulls up a fish... my fish he'd helped me catch from earlier!

"This beautiful white sea bass shall be used for our example." Ramsay pats the side of the fish as he lays it down on a cutting board.

"Now, this will be a bit messy, so I've given each of you a bucket for your fish guts. Watch carefully."

He takes a sharp knife and presses it into the fish's flesh, "you'll want to make a clean cut. Just put the tip of the knife into the fish's vent and cut right up until you're almost right underneath the chin." he expertly cuts the fish open.

"The next part is not difficult, but might make you a bit squeamish. As a chef, you have to be ready to handle these things. Food doesn't always come pre-packaged," he grins then reaches his hand into the cut he'd made, "just pull all the little bits out. If they don't come out easily, cut them out like this," he runs a blade along the inside of the fish and then pulls out the insides.

Jokingly, he turns and holds the fish guts towards Bella, who recoils in disgust and takes multiple steps back until she's at a more respectable distance. With a laugh, he turns back to the fish and resumes teaching. My fist gradually unclenches as I enjoy her obvious discomfort.

"Now before we rinse it out, we'll need to de-scale the fish," Ramsay grabs the tail of the fish and carries it to a sink, "take the back of your knife and rub it quickly against the grain of the fish's scales. Do one side, then flip it over to the other side and repeat."

The descaled fish hangs limply in his hand as he turns on the sink, "just give it a good rinse now. Be sure to wash out the insides."

"Finally, the most important part- filleting," he takes the fish and lays it down on a cutting board.

"First, look at the gills. Slice right behind them. Feel the bone halfway through, and come down," he slides the knife skillfully under the flesh.

"Now, turn the fish around and tilt it. Put your hand over the top of the fish and use your clean knife to slice down along the backbone," the sound of the knife running against the backbone is barely audible but makes a small clicking sound.

"Using your thumb, hold the meat of the fish back and use the knife to separate the meat from the bones. Be sure to feel where the bones are so we can avoid getting them in our fillet," he slices the meat cleanly off.

"Hold the head firmly, bring your knife down and just below the spine connecting to the head, and carefully take the tip of the knife from the top to the bottom. Perfectly clean, with not a single spot of meat missing." he pats the meat proudly.

"Let's trim 'round the edge of the fish, and then carefully remove any rib bones. Be sure not to cut off more meat than necessary. Now, slice from the top and remove that dorsal fin. Let's cut that tail off as well, but be sure not to nick anything. Remove the last fins," his knife dances across the fish as he speaks as if performing his instructions on its own.

"We take the two beautiful halves and lay them down on your cutting board. Think about cutting evenly sized portions from your fish. Generally, you should get five fillets from a single side of fish," the knife bobs up and down on the fish, moving effortlessly, "Voila!" he steps back from the now perfectly filleted fish. Everyone leans in close, nodding and muttering.

"I hope you all paid attention because your challenge begins..." he takes a deep breath and pauses for a moment, "now!"

All of us rush back to our stations and grab our fish. I follow his directions exactly but move a bit slower than some of the others just trying to be sure I don't accidentally miss a bone. While halfway into cutting the second half of my fish off from the bone, I hear a loud "fuck!"

Turning towards the sound, I can see one of the red team members, Cindy, holding her thumb.

"What is it, Cindy? Are you alright?" a concerned Ramsay approaches her.

"Ugh, God, I don't know Chef. I think I need to see a medic." Cindy holds her thumb with her other hand, blood seeping from between her fingers.

"Right you are, medic!" Ramsay shouts, leading Cindy into the back of the kitchens.

The rest of us look worriedly after her but eventually resume our challenge. Chef Ramsay returns a few minutes later and resumes his post at the head of the kitchen.

One by one, each of us completes our fish fillets.

Once Ramsay sees the last of us complete our challenge, he claps, "excellent work everyone. I was going to have one of the red team step away to not have their fillets judged and make the teams even, but it seems Cindy will fill that slot. Each of you will be graded out of ten, one point per fillet."

Taylor and Pietro face off first, with Taylor getting 8/10 and Pietro garnering 9/10.

Up next, both Garrett and Gail get perfect tens.

Bella and Dylan step up and both are judged 7/10.

Abel and l bring up our fillets for judgment. Ramsay inspects my fish first, and I manage to get a 9/10. He nods at me, "close, but you have a nick in this one fillet. Be careful, filleting requires a steady hand." he reminds me, his eyes soft. Abel scores a perfect ten, much to my chagrin.

Jay and Mary bring up their dishes, and Jay scores an abysmal 4/10.

"Jay, were you sleeping while making these?" Ramsay's voice booms angrily, using the end of the knife to indicate a full half of the rib cage lodged in the poorly cut fillets of fish, "if I attempted to eat this it'd be closer to eating shrapnel than fine dining!"

Jay hangs his head as he walks back into line. Red pulls just ahead with a 6/10, which ties our teams.

Kalyani and Shaun score an 8/10 each, still leaving us at a tie.

Last up is Gina and Dave. Gina looks nervous as she carries her plate up, while Dave looks completely confident. Fortunately for us, Dave's confidence was misplaced, as Gina scores a perfect 10/10 while Dave scores only 7/10, which makes the red team the winners by a mere 3 points!

The red team collectively lets out their held breath and cheers. The blue team looks miserable.

"Excellent work, ladies! I have the most amazing treat for you in store," he makes eye contact with me, and I can sense there's something meaningful behind his look.

"You'll be going with me to a very special kind of dining event, Dining in the Dark!" he excitedly rubs his hands together, "unfortunately, Cindy had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, so she will not be joining us tonight."

"Now for the blue team, you all will be cleaning up this awful stinking fish mess, and cleaning down every inch of the kitchen. After that, you will be ironing out tablecloths and cleaning the dining area for tomorrow's dinner service. You'll also be polishing all of the glassware until it is absolutely spotless."

The blue team stands around grumbling.

Ramsay motions his arm towards the kitchen, "well? Get to it, men, you'll want to hurry so you can get to bed at a decent time. As for the ladies, please get dressed in something comfortable and come meet your limo at the entrance in ten minutes," he smiles at us all, then waves us to our rooms.

The men watch us with remorse as we cheerfully make our way past them. A chant of "let's go red team!" starts up, and we all get behind it, cheering and dancing our way up to the dorms.


	13. Chapter 11- What we did in the Dark

The red team hurriedly rushed into the dorms and opened their drawers to pull out whatever nice clothes they'd brought with them. I flung open my drawer to find a neatly folded black dress that was definitely not there previously. There was a small card tucked into the velvet belt of the dress. I sneakily picked it up and laid the dress in my lap, with the card between the folds of the silky fabric.

"If you've won today's challenge, please consider wearing this tonight. I used the measurements from your jacket sizing to pick it out for you. If your team has lost, it's still your gift to keep."

I felt a flutter of butterflies in my chest as I hid the card then lifted the dress in front of me. It was stunning, made of silk and tied with a belt of velvet in the middle. The velvet belt came to a soft and charming bow in the back, while one side of the dress split in an alluring but elegant fashion to expose just a little leg. I'd never owned anything nearly this beautiful before. A few of my teammates noticed the dress and came over to check it out. Gina's eyes bugged out of her head,

"Oh my God, (Y/N), you didn't tell me you had access to high-end fashion designers!" she shouted.

Confusedly I looked at the label. 'Temperly', it read. Gina squealed even higher.

"Temperly! That's a top British fashion label since like, 2000! I am so jealous!" she touched the dress and swooned.

Gordon must have spent a pretty penny to buy this dress for me and have it delivered so quickly. I tried to stifle my blushing as I nodded to Gina then took the dress into the bathroom to change.

I emerged just a few minutes later, looking more dazzling than I thought I ever would in my life. The red team had all dressed up for the occasion, but I surely stole the show with this outfit. I considered for a moment how silly it was that Gordon had me dressing so nice just to go to a restaurant where nothing could be seen, but who am I to complain?

We made our way down to the entrance of Hell's Kitchen, and then to the front of the limo. Gordon opened the door for us and helped us each inside. He looked strikingly handsome with a fine fitted black dress shirt and matching pants. When it was my turn to enter the limo, his eyes trailed up and down my body.

"You look absolutely magnificent, love." he declared.

"T-thank you, Chef," I muttered, trying to hide my flushed face as I entered the limo, using his hand for balance.

Unfortunately, I was not seated next to Ramsay. Even more, unfortunately, Bella had found a way to scoot as close to him as possible. She was wearing a bright blue, short, strapless dress. And I was fairly certain she had foregone wearing a bra.

I tried not to let it bother me, after all, he hadn't bought her a dress.

Dining in the Dark was only about 20 minutes away. Gina, who was on one side of me, kept touching my dress and holding part of the fabric between her fingers. I knew it probably excited her very much as she seemed very fashion conscious, so I didn't make a fuss about it.

Taylor, who was sitting across from me wearing a simple yellow sundress, piped up at one point to compliment Red's dress. Red was wearing a pretty pink and yellow polka dot dress that made her look like she was straight out of the '50s. Taylor's praise caused her to try to hide her face behind her palms as she squeaked out a "thank you!"

When we arrived, Ramsay exited the limo first then helped us out. He led the way into the restaurant lobby and told the host that the Hell's Kitchen competition winners had arrived.

The host nodded graciously, then led us to a door. He instructed us to each hold the shoulder of the person in front of us so that we would not stumble into each other. I took hold of Gina's shoulder, and I felt Kalyani's long and nimble fingers press softly into mine.

We entered the pitch black room. The host's voice came from the front of the line. "Please turn to face left, then reach your hand out and grab your chair."

Following as we were instructed, we all scooted our chairs out and took a seat. Ramsay's voice sounded from somewhere to my right.

"This sort of experience is critical for an upcoming challenge, the taste testing challenge. See if you can decipher what is in each plate. It's just for fun now, but it could earn you a challenge win later." he quipped.

With that in mind, the appetizers came out quickly. I tried to savor the flavor, and twirl the textures around on my tongue. After a while, Ramsay asked us if anyone could name what was in what we'd just eaten.

"Was it artichoke and... trout, Chef?" came Gail's voice from my left.

"Close, you were right about one. It was a filo pastry shell with artichoke cream and smoked salmon. Nice guess, Gail." Ramsay praised.

After a few more small appetizers and quizzes from the Chef, that familiar feeling of needing to use the restroom started to bother me. I wasn't sure where to go, so I decided to bite the bullet and ask.

"Chef, do you know where the restrooms are?" I asked Ramsay.

"Of course, I'll take you," he responded, as I heard his chair scoot backward.

"Come with me, darling." his hand touched my shoulder and I turned to leave my chair. Ramsay took my hand and led me silently to the restrooms. Once we reached the bathrooms, he released me.

"Just head down that dark hallway a bit and turn to the right, you should see a light indicating the women's restroom. I'll wait for you to return," he said.

I quickly but carefully made my way down to the restroom and returned as fast as I could to him.

"Ramsay?" I said as I re-entered the dark hallway.

Swiftly, a hand covered my mouth!

I was shocked and thought about screaming when I felt hot breath tingle my ear,

"Keep quiet." was all he whispered.

I felt his fingers uncover my mouth and trail past my lips, down to my neck, to my shoulders and finally, his hand moved to cup one of my breasts. Goosebumps raised on my skin anywhere he touched me.

Stifling a gasp, I felt him lead me to the wall closest to us. He pushed me up against it with my back to him, squeezing and massaging my breast in his hand while his other hand slid down from my waist to my thigh, right at the slit in the dress. His fingers teased my bare skin lightly, before he pushed himself up against my back, his hand gripping my bare thigh possessively. I felt a hard erection rest between us, held back only by the thin fabric of his and my outfits.

He let out a low grunt as he ground his length against me, I damned the dress for keeping us apart. Sparks lit up my body as I struggled to maintain balance against the wall as Ramsay pushed into me even harder. I had never felt so out of breath, elated or nervous before. He buried his face into my shoulder and I felt his soft hair tickle my cheek with each thrust. The sound of his steady yet quiet breathing entranced me as I followed his lead.

The lust was overwhelming. I couldn't count how many times I had to choke down my sounds of pleasure. He didn't seem to have the same issue, as he continued silently and passionately holding me against himself. The crisp and masculine smell of his cologne washed over me. I took a moment to try to cement the intoxicating scent to memory. The sound of our clothing rustling was all that could be heard, and even then it was soft enough that I didn't think it would matter if someone were to interr-

_Click click click_

The sound of heels approached us in the hallway!

Though we were in pitch darkness, Ramsay pulled away from me. I could hear him straightening his clothes.

"Come on then, (Y/N), you sure took a while in there and the others must be wondering where we are. Hurry on!" I felt his fingers gently touch me in the dark. Quickly straightening my dress with one hand, I reached out and took hold of his offered hand. He twined his fingers with mine and squeezed reassuringly.

We both swept past the unknown intruder on our secret foray and back to the table. Reluctantly, I released Ramsay's hand and returned to my seat. The wetness of my excitement was very apparent as I sat down, and I shifted uncomfortably... both because of the soaked panties and because I was still so turned on that staying still was an impossibility.

"Hello ladies, (Y/N) had a bit of trouble with her beautiful dress but we've returned!" Ramsay's voice was still slightly husky, but no one else caught on.

Taylor's voice piped up, "poor Gail had to find the restroom all by herself!"

Dammit, Gail, she should have just held it! I couldn't be sure when the next opportunity I'd have to spend with Ramsay would be, but I was craving more. I'd never felt so controlled before. It was as if Ramsay knew every button to push to make me his obedient little girl. I would've done anything he wanted me to do with great pleasure.

There was only dessert left in our Dining in the Dark meal experience, Ramsay and I had missed the main course (or rather, made each other our main course). That didn't matter in the slightest, the sweetness of the dessert was the perfect cherry on top of my incredibly salacious day.


	14. Chapter 12- Reminiscing

The limo ride home was difficult for both of us, it seemed. Once again, I was seated a ways away from Ramsay, but the tension we each felt electrified the air between us. He was still talking with everyone else, being his regular limelight-loving self, but I could feel him watching me whenever he had the chance to look. I, on the other hand, had a bit more of an excuse to be watching him like I was.

Gina nudged my arm from beside me,

"You know, if you have trouble removing the dress tonight, I can help you."

The dress was definitely no issue for me to take on and off, but I considered what Ramsay had told the other girls when we'd arrived back at the table.

"Yes, alright, please just help me pull the zipper and I'll do the rest when we get to the dorms." I placated Gina, who likely was just looking for an excuse to get to spend more time with the dress.

Gina smiled at me and then turned back to watching Ramsay.

"This is just the beginning, everyone. Someday when you make it big as a chef, you'll be spending every day trying out new and delicious foods," he paused, "having experience with many different types of food can only ever help you in a kitchen environment. One thing I have worked for during my career as a chef is to never be unsure of what I can do with an ingredient. Every chef should be prepared to make something extraordinary from what is available to them. Be thinking of that."

Just as he finished speaking, the limo pulled into the parking lot.

"Welcome back to Hell, ladies!" Ramsay said as he opened the limo door and helped each of us out once more.

After we were all helped from the limo, Chef Ramsay once again addressed us,

" Be sure to rest up for tomorrow as you will have a long day of prep and eventual service to handle at the end of the day. Don't be afraid to help each other and please oh please make my job easier. I'll be having a rough enough time trying to mold the blue team into something more resembling chefs as opposed to a stable of donkeys." he laughed along with the red team.

We all walked into Hell's Kitchen once more. Ramsay walked with us to the steps leading up to the dorms.

"Goodnight, ladies," he said as we filtered past him. I wasn't last in line, so I didn't really get a chance to linger behind with Ramsay as I had hoped. Not wanting to draw attention, I merely said "goodnight" to him as I walked past, straining to not be too suspicious.

"Sleep well, (Y/N)," he said softly as we passed each other. I could feel him looking at me but I knew if I looked back I would betray too much emotion in my eyes. With Bella in front of me and Red behind, I didn't think it was safe, so I kept my eyes on Bella's blonde head bobbing up the stairs instead and responded,

"You too, Chef."

Most of the women were ready to sleep by the time we made it back. The men were already in bed it seems. Only Abel was awake, sitting at the long wooden table and still reading his recipe book. Curious, I made my way over.

"Hey Abel, why aren't you sleeping?" I asked.

Abel's clear blue eyes flicked up from the page to meet mine,

"Oh, I don't really need to sleep as long as," he paused, then emphasized, "_most_ people."

His eyes steadily locked onto mine, appraising me with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Really? That will be really useful here when you don't know what sort of nonsense will wake you up next. Clowns? Trained attack dogs?" I smiled, feeling as if I were under a microscope.

Abel returned the smile but said nothing. His fingers played with the corner of the recipe book as if itching to turn the page.

"Sorry if I was interrupting your study. I'm headed to bed now." I said sheepishly.

"No bother at all, (Y/N). I hope you had fun tonight," his eyes broke from mine finally as he took in the rest of my outfit, "you look great," he added casually.

"Thank you," I said as I felt a smile creep onto my face on my way to the bedroom.

The lights were off, but I could see Gina sitting cross-legged on her bed. She wordlessly motioned for me to turn around. I did so, and she pulled the zipper for me. Graciously, I curtsied. She giggled in response, then nodded towards the closet, one of the few places you could get changed without a camera watching.

After removing my dress I folded it carefully and placed it back in my drawer. I wore a shirt and shorts to bed just in case we were called to duty in the middle of the night- a common occurrence in previous seasons of Hell's Kitchen.

As I lay in bed, slowly creeping thoughts of what Ramsay and I got up to seep into my mind.

Aside from the inevitable steaminess of my memories, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Taylor had reminded me that he was married... I had always staunchly despised cheaters. Swore that I would never stoop to their level. I never understood why you wouldn't just leave your partner if you weren't satisfied. Now here I was, stealing sensual moments with another woman's man. My stomach turned. At least we hadn't gone _too_ far... we hadn't even kissed...

Then I remembered how Gordon had asked me if I was single. Why would a cheater bother with if I was taken or not? It didn't really make sense that he'd care for the emotions of some unknown potential man over how his wife of fifteen years would feel.

As confusing as everything was, I still couldn't help the deep part of my body that was responding to everything Gordon ever asked of me. Each time I listened to him, each time I followed his direction and got his praise it felt unbelievably wonderful.

Confusing thoughts of lust and uncertainty circled in my head wildly until I became dizzy enough to fall asleep.


	15. Chapter 13- Red Alert

My eyelids fluttered, and Taylor's bright brown eyes met mine.

I jolted awake, sitting up in bed.

"What the hell, Taylor? You scared the shit outta me," I whispered harshly. She was kneeling next to my bed with her face just a few inches from mine. Her curly brown hair was wild and unkempt. I looked around the room and saw that everyone else was still asleep. The analog clock beside me read 5:23 am.

She looked bashful for a moment, before sliding me a notepad.

On it, she'd written-

_Did you and Ramsay do anything when he took you to the bathroom yesterday?_

I quickly held the notepad at an angle where the cameras wouldn't be able to pick it up.

Taylor slid a pen over the top of the notepad and looked at me eagerly.

I paused for a moment before writing out my response-

_Sort of..._

Sliding the notepad back to her, she took the pen and scribbled out-

_OMG, I knew it. You're so naughty! I knew he liked you. What are you going to do now?_

Thinking for a moment, I then responded-

_I honestly have no idea. I can't even ask what he meant by... what happened. It's maddening. All these cameras and microphones everywhere are making getting any actual info on wtf is going on between us a near impossibility._

Taylor read over the response and nodded before writing-

_Well, I'll cover for you girl. You need anything you just let me know. I'll try to help the best I can._

I drew a heart on the page in response. She smiled at me before tearing the paper off the page and leaving for the restroom. Shortly thereafter, I heard the toilet flush. Thank goodness she wasn't taking any chances on anyone coming across our conversation.

When she returned, she smiled at me then slid back in her bed. I returned the smile, then rolled over in bed and tried to catch some shut eye before the morning prep work.

The morning came too soon, unfortunately, as the women in the dorm started rousing at about 6:40 am. I was sitting on the edge of my bed brushing my hair when I heard a voice from the common area.

"Morning everyone!" the muffled voice shouted.

Quickly hopping off the edge of the bed, I went through the door to the main room and saw Sous Chef Christina standing there with her arms crossed and a big smile on her face. Behind her, I could see Cindy standing silently, not really sharing Christina's enthusiasm.

"You have no idea how satisfying it is for me to be the one to wake all of you up this time. Your fellow chef Cindy has returned from the hospital and getting her stitches done. She'll be joining us all for prep and service today. We have a big day ahead of us, so let's get moving!" Christina happily skipped backward before turning on her heel and exiting the dorms, leaving Cindy standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

I scanned the room for Taylor and saw her snacking on some cereal before prep. I scooted out a chair next to her and sat down, pouring out my own bowl.

"Hurry now, (Y/N), we're already almost late!" Taylor said with a mouthful of cereal as she hauled yet another enormous bite into her mouth.

Following suit, I shoveled the cereal into my mouth as fast as I could.

Taylor and I managed to make it down to the kitchen just as the last of the blue team was lining up.

Gordon Ramsay stood at the head of the kitchen looking eager. He bounced on his toes as he stood in front of us, hands clasped in front of him.

"Good morning, everyone!" he said cheerily.

"Good morning, Chef!" we shouted back. If we were sleepy, at least our voices didn't betray that.

"Bright eyed and bushy tailed I see!" Ramsay bounced on his toes again, his excitement was contagious, "we'll be needing quite a lot of prep work done today. Do whatever your sous chefs ask of you and help each other! Be sure to get it all done before dinner service at 6 tonight, right?" he scanned the lineup of chefs.

"Yes, Chef!" we responded heartily.

"Excellent, I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Go on then!" he clapped his hands then turned around and took the stairs to his office two at a time.

Prep work was grueling as usual, but Christina was an expert and whenever anyone struggled, she was right behind their shoulder to explain how to better accomplish their task. She never snapped at anyone (at least during prep) and it really helped everyone be calm.

Scott on the other hand, though just as helpful as Christina, would let the men know if someone had screwed up... loudly. Often, the red team would silently snicker about whatever insult Scott had hit the boys with. Scott's demeanor definitely got the job done, however, as the blue team finished prep before us.

But that may have also been because Red just couldn't seem to chop the onions thin enough. There was a mountain of discarded onions by her cutting board. Her face was flushed and there were tears pricking her eyes- though that could have easily just been a side effect of chopping onions.

Christina made her way to Red's side to check in on her.

"Hey, Mary, are you OK?" she asked worriedly to the petite chef.

"Y-Yeah. I'm... OK..." Red sniffled and avoided eye contact, her hands shaking as she prepped yet another onion for cutting. Christina reached out and stopped her from continuing by holding the end of the knife, her hand over Red's. She looked concerned.

"Hon, are you alright for real? It's fine if you need to take a break. We have almost an hour before dinner service. I'll come to get you before Chef Ramsay gets here," she offered.

Red bowed her head and turned towards Christina, nodding meekly. She then quietly moved past her and went up to the dorm.

Kalyani quickly took up Red's post and finished chopping the onions expertly.

Dinner service loomed ever closer on the horizon.

I looked nervously at the blue kitchen. The boys were milling about chatting with each other, re-checking stations and discussing the menu with Scott. Our team seemed more worried about gossiping.

"Do you think she broke down?" asked Bella to Cindy, obviously trying to have everyone hear her.

"About what? Dinner service hasn't even started. And I didn't see HER slicing her thumb in half!" Cindy retorted, motioning to her bandaged thumb. Bella nodded, _mm-hmming_ loudly.

Those two were nearly unbearable to have around. It pained me even further that if Red didn't return, she'd be the one headed home instead of either of the drama queens.

_Please come back, Red!_


	16. Chapter 14- The Second Dinner Service

I noticed Christina head towards the dorms, and I knew that Ramsay would be making his entrance soon. I checked around the stations one last time to be sure everything looked as ready as it could be. Once I finished checking, I liked up next to the stoves with the rest of the red team to await Chef Ramsay.

A few moments later, Christina returned with Red in tow. Red looked calmer now, but she still was embarrassed by all of the eyes on her. She quickly made her way to the chef lineup and stood at the back.

Chef Ramsay emerged from his office and came to the head of the kitchen.

"I hope you all are ready to perform well. After all, your fish is a big part of the menu tonight. Tonight is seafood night, so those of you that would be on meat station will instead be a second fish station, understood?"

"Yes, Chef!" we shouted.

"Good, excellent. Well, let's get started then shall we?" he turned his back to us and motioned for the maitre d',

"Jean-Phillipe, please open Hell's Kitchen for seafood night."

Jean-Phillipe nodded and headed towards the entrance of Hell's Kitchen.

The seats filled up once more, giving us yet another full house to feed.

I was on appetizers tonight with Kalyani. Our two fish stations were being handled by Gail, Bella, Cindy, and Taylor. Red and Gina were heading up the dessert station.

Ramsay approached our kitchen's head,

"Here we go, guys! First ticket in, appetizers. Two risotto, one scallop," his assertive voice echoed through the kitchen.

"Yes, Chef!" we responded, and immediately began working on the ticket.

Being appetizers, the entire flow of the kitchen rested on Kalyani and I's shoulders. We each took to making risotto. As the risottos were nearly done cooking, I finished up the scallops, leaving my risotto next to Kalyani's.

Right as I finished searing the scallops perfectly, I heard Ramsay's exasperated voice.

"Oh come** ON**," he shouted, "these risottos are two completely different colors, Kalyani! I can't serve that at the same table! What were you thinking?"

I was too concentrated on getting the scallops exactly right that I didn't see Kalyani step away with the risottos! Cursing under my breath, I looked up and locked eyes with Chef Ramsay, who was giving me a skeptical look.

"I would have thought you two could work better together than that. I expected much more," he not-so-delicately dropped the pans down on the metal table at the head of the kitchen. Kalyani stood dumbfounded, still at the pass.

"Well, don't stand there like a buffoon. Combine the fucking things before they get cold! Honestly, good God..." Ramsay shook his head, pressing his thumb and index finger into his temples.

Kalyani sprung to life and immediately mixed the risottos. I brought up my scallops at the same time and set them next to Chef. He quickly made eye contact with me as I set them down. There was an obvious incredulous air about him, but I saw some hope regained as he touched the scallops and determined them good enough for plating.

After sending off the first appetizers, Ramsay called out the next order.

"How long?" he asked, directing the question to our station.

"About eight minutes, Chef!" I shouted back.

He nodded then headed towards the boys' side.

"What are you fucking doing?" he shouted from the blue kitchen, then disappeared behind the wall dividing the kitchens, likely to scold whoever had messed up.

A minute or so later, he returned to the front holding a full plate of scallops.

"Fucking insane. It hasn't even been thirty minutes, yet the blue kitchen has already run through half their scallops _ON THE FIRST ORDER_." he enunciated, slamming the full plate onto the table. He then picked up a rubbery scallop and lobbed it at someone, I couldn't see who.

"You two thought you could hide this fucking shitfest from me, yeah?" he continued shouting, "you fucks. Get the fuck out of my kitchen. Slimy _LIARS_!" his whole body shook as he said this, the veins in the side of his neck bulging as if they wished they could pop out and beat whoever had screwed up.

"You, Dave and Jay, hop off that second fish station and finish up the fucking appetizers. Well, whichever of the appetizers we even still have available TO be made. Unbelievable," Ramsay shook his head and sighed exasperatedly.

When he headed back to our kitchen, thankfully we were prepared. We managed to get out the rest of the appetizers with no further missteps. Now, our kitchen was tasked with completing entrees.

After a few minutes of waiting for the first order of fish, Ramsay came back over to the red kitchen and called out,

"are you all done with your fish yet? Please, I can't take much more." he pleaded with us.

"Yes, Chef!" the ladies from the fish stations called out, then Bella and Taylor brought up their trays.

"Behind you, Chef," Taylor said as she placed down her tray. Bella followed suit and laid her tray down.

Ramsay quickly grabbed the two trays and stopped Bella and Taylor on their way back to their stations.

"Is this a fucking joke to everyone?" he spat, his face turning red with anger.

"I asked for two white sea bass and one mackerel. Look what you've given me," he tilted the trays forward, six prepared fish fillets slid down the pan until they were at the edge.

"Six fucking fish fillets. For one table. You four are literally right across from each other and can't communicate over who's making what fish. It isn't fucking rocket science you inept simpletons!" the anger in his eyes inflamed.

"I swear to fucking God I'm about to give up on both teams right now," he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Neither team had managed to get more than one entree out to the hungry customers. Over an hour and thirty minutes had passed.

"If there is a SINGLE screw up from this point on, I promise, I will shut down both fucking kitchens. I don't even care anymore. Obviously, you all don't care, so why should I?" he threw up his hands in the air and jutted his head forward, challenging us.

"Yes Chef!" we called out, our nerves wracked.

The second table's fish were prepared, and thankfully the two fish stations had coordinated themselves. Ramsay meticulously scanned the fish for any defect...

"Service, please." his voice called calmly from the front.

It felt like everyone in the red kitchen collectively relaxed at that moment, maybe we could still salvage what was left of dinner.

Or, maybe not.

"I'm done. I'm fucking done," came Ramsay's voice from the front of the blue kitchen. The boys looked confusedly at each other.

"Of the four of you on fish, you'd think at least one could check the fish before you send it up here. Raw. Fucking. Mackerel."

Ramsay shook his head, then slammed a fist down into the raw fish, sending scraps of it flying. He then turned and addressed both kitchens,

"Shut it down. Shut it all down. All of you. No one wins this service. Both teams, decide on two fucks that should get the hell out of Hell's Kitchen, and now all of you get the hell out of MY sight."

The venom in his words stung me, my heart aching. Red couldn't take it and started sobbing silently.

With our spirit broken, we made our way up to the dorms.

This wasn't going to be pretty.


	17. Chapter 15- Deliberation and Elimination

The girls all filed in and sat down in the common room area. A new kind of nervous energy coursed through the group.

Gina was the first to break the silence,

"Well, we know what Chef will do if we don't put up the people he thinks deserve to be up there. We have to be sure we choose right, even if it hurts."

Gail stood up from one of the lounge chairs,

"Our issues were with the appetizers and the fish station. That's Kalyani, myself, Bella, Cindy, Taylor and (Y/N). Now let's think on the weakest chefs out of that group."

Bella huffed,

"just because we brought up the wrong number of fish doesn't mean any of us deserve to be upped. The only real issue we had was the risottos. I am voting for (Y/N) and Kalyani."

Cindy then added,

"Yeah, but I don't think (Y/N) is the weakest, honestly. She was cooking scallops while Kalyani rushed ahead of her," she tapped her foot on the ground then continued, "my votes are for Kalyani and Taylor. Kalyani because she should have waited for (Y/N) and Taylor because I never once heard her say anything the entire kitchen service."

I was honestly surprised that Cindy stood up for me, then I remembered how she had said she would repay me after I'd saved her on scallops. Even though Cindy was annoying and whiny, she did stick to her word.

Kalyani crossed her arms,

"I'm certainly not the weakest chef. We should drop Mary."

Red gasped, her eyes shifting to Kalyani. She didn't seem like she expected that at all, especially considering she didn't even get a chance to make anything today.

Kalyani went on to explain her reasoning,

"Mary obviously is struggling. We all saw her at prep today. She just got lucky that she wasn't on one of the early stations, or she would have crashed and burned. I think she's the weakest chef, honestly. No offense, Mary, but I don't think you were cut out for Hell's Kitchen."

Red's face went... well, red. However this time it wasn't from embarrassment, it was from anger.

"You all have no idea what I had to go through to be here," her small hands balled into fists, "my fiance and I had a huge fight just before I left for Hell's Kitchen! He told me he didn't want me on the screens for everyone to look at. I tried to explain that this show isn't about showing off looks, it's about cooking, which is my dream. He just thought I was fishing for attention, but I'm not."

She paused for breath between her outburst, her fists shaking with pent up rage,

"I have more passion than half of you combined! I didn't even get to cook today, so don't you dare try to up me! I've been struggling emotionally for a while. I don't even know if my fiance will still want to be with me, especially after how Garrett put his arm around me in the limo, but I'm still here! Chef Ramsay offered me the door and I didn't take it! I deserve to be here!" her dedication was apparent as she finally cooled off and took her seat on the couch again, her arms folded protectively over her chest while rage tears pricked at her eyes.

Everyone was silent for a moment before I decided to say something,

"in my opinion, none of us really deserve to be up there, but something tells me the blue kitchen fucked up even worse than we did. So I don't think that anyone we up will be eliminated this time. Chef Ramsay will likely be gunning for whoever wasted a full pile of scallops. We just need to put two people up. I vote for..." I paused, thinking, "Kalyani and..." the name 'Taylor' paused on my lips. I couldn't just up my closest friend. Besides, if her issue was talking then she could fix that easily. Sighing, I continued,

"Gail. Gail, being that you are obviously so assertive, I can't believe that you'd let the fish stations fail as they did. I'm only voting you because I expected more out of you."

She shot me a malicious look,

"Alright then, I'm voting for (Y/N) and Kalyani. Besides, as you said, you're likely safe anyways," she shrugged.

Kalyani piped up with her vote,

"I'm voting for (Y/N) and Mary. Sorry, Mary, I do appreciate your speech, but I still think you should go."

Gina sighed before voting,

"Kalyani and Taylor. Sorry girls, I love you both, but we need more discussion in the kitchen or we're all going to fail and you two are not cutting it."

Taylor squinted before sighing,

"I really don't like this. I'm voting up Kalyani... and Gail. For the reasons (Y/N) stated. I hope we're all still friends."

Last to vote was Red. She had calmed down considerably after not being brought up more than once and spoke up,

"I'm voting for Kalyani and Taylor, both because they didn't speak as often as they should have."

Gina muttered,

"You know that ties (Y/N) and Taylor. We have to pick only two. Who's going up?"

I glanced at Taylor, who was looking worriedly at me.

"It's fine guys. I'll go up," I found myself saying almost against my will. I couldn't stand to have Taylor go in my place, and I knew that we were likely safe... but the fact that I self-nominated to the stand on only our second dinner service burned in my conscience. I knew of the previous winners of Hell's Kitchen, they were hardly ever on the stand. This would be a strike against me that I would have to work tirelessly to wipe away.

The phone rang. Gail got up and answered. After a short while, she responded,

"yes, Chef," and hung up the phone.

"Come on guys, all of us need to go down. The boys as well."

We solemnly walked down the stairs and lined up for the elimination process. The men followed shortly after, joining us on the lineup.

Chef Ramsay stood in front of us, shaking his head.

"I am bitterly, bitterly disappointed. In all of you. Red team," his eyes scanned us, "I asked you during the last elimination to take a stand, speak to each other and make my job just a bit easier. I couldn't have gotten a service further from what I'd been asking for."

We hung our heads as he continued,

"you blue team fucks are really starting to piss me off, you know that right? Trying to hide a full plate of wasted scallops in the cupboard! You're like children who broke a vase and tried to pretend there never was one in the first place! Absolutely unbelievable."

Ramsay stood there with his hands on his hips for a moment, before he blew the breath he was holding out as he watched us all.

"I hope everyone managed to come to a consensus. Gail, please, who is your first nominee and why?" he sighed, his blue eyes clouded over and bleak like they were foretelling an incoming storm.

"Chef, our first nominee is Kalyani. She was too quick to the pass with her risottos and didn't communicate properly with her teammates," Gail responded.

"Right, OK. The second nominee?" he asked.

"Chef, our second nominee is..." Gail paused uncertainly, "(Y/N), Chef."

"Really? Why?" Ramsay probed, his head cocked to the side.

"She was on the station with Kalyani and both of them should have been better coordinated. We really struggled from lack of communication, Chef," Gail stiffened up and clasped her hands behind her back.

Ramsay sighed as the two of us stepped forward.

"You know, you are right. Your two nominees were lacking in communication. But I can think of four others that also struggled with the same issue. Gail, Taylor, Cindy, and Bella, get your sorry asses up here," Ramsay said as he jabbed his finger at the floor in front of him.

Soon enough more than half of the red team was standing on the chopping block. I quickly glanced at the women around me. Bella was looking haughty, Cindy looked like she was about to burst with the desire to defend herself, Taylor was looking at her feet and Gail was standing stiffly, staring straight ahead.

"Now, the blue team. Jay. Who is your first nominee and why?" Ramsay asked, popping up on his toes for a moment before settling back down.

"Uh, Chef... Our first nominee is Dylan. Our reasons are obvious. He tried to hide his failed scallops from you and denied it when you confronted him."

"Alright Jay, and your second nominee and why?" Ramsay inquired.

"Our last nominee is Garrett, Chef. He doesn't listen to instruction well and thinks whatever he has in mind is more important than listening to the team," Jay concluded.

"Fine then. Step forward you two," Chef Ramsay waited for them to approach, "now, this service was the worst service so far. I sincerely hope I will not have to deal with anything close to this in the future. I might have a fucking stroke if you all keep dithering about like completely mute dimwits in the kitchen."

The lineup of up-for-elimination chefs mumbled apologies.

"Honestly, I've half a mind to eliminate all of the red team standing in front of me right now. You all said you'd speak to one another and I heard next to nothing coming from your side of the kitchen."

His gaze locked onto mine and held there for a moment, "when I ask you for something and you agree, you do not disappoint me."

I could feel a deeper meaning in his words and responded by nodding subtly.

"But I think today's elimination is obvious. Truthfully, they don't even deserve to make a plea for themselves," Gordon's burning look moved off of me and onto Dylan.

"Dylan, give me your jacket and get the fuck out of here. I've no space for liars in 'Gordon Ramsay's London Cuisine'," Ramsay barked, swiftly pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards the exit.

Dylan looked broken, his shoulders slumped as he stepped forward, removing his jacket.

"Hopefully you learn from this and own up to your mistakes. I might have given you a chance if you had. Now, get out," Ramsay snarled.

The distraught chef teared up as he exited the building, a quiet "thank you for the opportunity, Chef," was all that he said before the doors closed behind him.

Ramsay turned to the rest of us.

"This is your wake up call, got it?"

"Yes, Chef!" we shouted.

"Good. I need to hear more communication. Your problems would be solved if you just spoke to one another. I'm going to need each of you to promise to communicate better. Trust me, breaking a promise to me is not something you want to do," he asserted.

"I promise, Chef!" we exclaimed.

"Don't break that promise, or you will be very, very sorry," he urged, "now go get some rest before tomorrow. Piss off."

Gordon turned his back to us and walked back to his office, closing the door behind him.


	18. Chapter 16- Communication Relay

"Come on! Hurry up! Wake up everyone!" shouted the familiar voice of Christina from the common area of the dorms.

Groaning emitted from about half the beds around me. The red team did not take well to having 2/3rds of its members up on the execution block just last night. The strain of the emotional toll it took on us was clearly evident in the fact that it took us quite some time to exit the bedrooms.

"Chef Ramsay has a challenge prepared for you all, you don't want to keep him waiting! Get dressed fast and come on down," Christina declared.

After donning our chef jackets, we scurried down the stairs and lined up in front of the kitchens. Ramsay stood at the very front, looking as lively and energetic as he always does.

"Good morning, everyone. After yesterday's complete failure at communication, I thought I'd give you all an opportunity to redeem yourself. This will also be your challenge for today. I'll just go ahead and let you know, you do not want to lose this one," he watched us carefully.

"Yes, Chef!" we collectively shouted.

"Excellent. For today's challenge, you will be preparing our standard menu," he claps his hands together before raising a finger in the air and continuing, "but only one of you will be in the kitchen at a time. Each of you will have five minutes. Blue team, two of you will have to go twice. I'm going to need one rack of lamb, one risotto, one scallop, one salmon and one medium rare filet, got it?"

"Yes, Chef!" we affirmed.

"Then quickly decide who will be going first on your team. You will have thirty seconds now to decide your order of chefs, and then thirty seconds when you trade off to communicate what needs to be done next in your dishes. Keep everything organized! Ready?" he paused for a moment before shouting, "GO!"

Red team formed a circle and deliberated on our order of chefs. We settled on Kalyani, Gail, Gina, Taylor, Bella, myself, Red and finally Cindy. With places decided, Kalyani rushed into the kitchen.

Watching Kalyani work was almost like watching a perfectly concordant ballet dance. She swiftly organized everything, prepped the meats and started up the ovens. She was definitely the correct person to pick to go first. Hopefully, her meticulous organization will keep us all on track.

Ramsay was heading up the kitchens, watching each of the teams work. Most of the red and blue team members were lined up directly outside the kitchens, either watching their teammates silently or shouting what they thought to be helpful comments.

I took this time to covertly make my way closer to Ramsay. I had no way of talking to him or getting his attention but dammit, I couldn't help my desire to be near him.

When I arrived at his side, his eyes flashed towards me for a second, then back to the kitchens. A slow burn started in my cheeks. The corner of his lips twitched in the ghost of a smile, but since the cameras were on and rolling, he kept his eyes ahead and focused.

In no time, Gail, Gina, and Taylor had traded off in the kitchen. Bella was in there now, working on the risotto. She also kept an eye on the rack of lamb that Taylor had started previously.

"Next!" shouted Ramsay, spurring Bella away from the stove. I ran into the kitchen and met up with her.

"Alright, risotto is on, put the lamb in the oven. Don't forget to start the filet, I have the skillet warm for you already," Bella stated, seemingly trying to work together for once.

"Sounds good, thanks," I responded while tying an apron around myself.

"Chat time is over, your five minutes start now," Ramsay boomed over the kitchen chatter.

The first order of business was the lamb. I checked the sear and once I confirmed it was perfect, I put it in the oven. Next up, stirring the risotto. I took a small spoon and tasted the risotto... too much wine. Turning up the heat to burn off the alcohol flavor, I then took hold of the filet mignon and put it in the preheated cast iron skillet and turned the heat to medium. The filet smelled delicious as I fastidiously watched over it. When I had two minutes left I suddenly remembered that my team will need to be making salmon and scallops! I turned on the stove top and set out pans for the seafood.

Before I knew it, Ramsay's voice announced the end of my time.

In short order, I made my way to Red who was already getting her apron ready.

"Double check that risotto and turn down the heat if the alcohol taste is burned off. The lamb will still need to be in the oven so don't forget to tell Cindy. Turn that filet mignon as soon as you get in there. Salmon and scallops will have to be started right now too, I have the pans ready! Good luck Red," I smiled at her reassuringly. Red gave me a determined nod before stepping up to the stove.

To my dismay, Bella had taken my spot at Ramsay's side and was leaning over the pass to watch Red work, kicking one foot up in the air behind her like she was expecting to be photographed for a Playboy magazine. I grumbled inaudibly as I instead stood next to Taylor. Taylor was very engrossed in watching Red cook, and I could see why. The fiery girl was whipping around the kitchen like a storm, seasoning here, turning meat there, it was really a spectacle. Red and Cindy had the two hardest jobs of them all, so I was glad to see that she was not taking the job lightly.

"Time!" came Ramsay's voice calling for the last turn of the challenge.

Red and Cindy had a quick conversation before Red popped out of the kitchen and stood next to me. She smiled up at me, her green eyes sparkling,

"I think we've got this," she giggled.

I smiled back and we both turned to watch Cindy.

Cindy tested each of the meats and fish for doneness and plated them. Then I heard something I had hoped I wouldn't hear...

"Fuck!" - then the slam of a pan.

While Cindy had been plating the meats and fish, she had neglected to turn the scallops. The bottoms were terribly burned.

Taylor turned towards me, her eyes bulging.

"If the boys didn't fuck up worse than that, we're out, no matter how good our food is..." she whimpered, curling her arm through mine and holding me tightly.

Bella's mouth made a comical "O" as she watched our win burn away before our eyes. I might have laughed if I wasn't already feeling intense trepidation.

Cindy finished plating what we did have to give to Ramsay. She wouldn't have enough time to cook more scallops, so all we could do was hope that the men had messed up something even more major than an entire dish.

"Done! Ladies, Gentlemen, please line up and prepare to present your dishes," Ramsay requested.

We all lined up for Ramsay. I took a moment to examine the blue team. Unfortunately, none of them seemed particularly worried. I glanced at Cindy, she was complaining under her breath to no one in particular.

"First up, the battle of the lambs!" Ramsay clapped his hands together as the lamb dishes were passed down the line to him.

Chef Ramsay started with the blue team's dish, cutting into it cleanly and taking a bite.

"Well done. It's cooked well, seasoning is perfect and it isn't cut like a mangled Jack the Ripper corpse," he observed before trying out our dish.

"Also well done, both of these dishes are just fine. A point to both teams. Let's see those risottos now, please," Ramsay passed the lamb back and accepted the risottos from each team. He then took a bite from the blue team's risotto.

"Excellently cooked. It looks lovely and tastes lovely as well. I'm honestly impressed, men," he nodded towards the blue team, who looked at each other excitedly.

"Now for the red team..." he took a bite of our risotto.

"A little mushy, somewhat overcooked. I'm going to have to give the point to the blue team here," he shrugged, "let's see how you fare on the scallops then."

Cindy gulped as Ramsay accepted the blue team's scallops dish, still holding his hand out to the red team.

"Well? Are you going to make me wait much longer?" Gordon sighed, gesturing for us to pass him a dish by closing and reopening his hand.

"Uhhhh, Chef... I burned the scallops," Cindy stuttered.

"You what?" Ramsay looked at Cindy in disbelief.

"Burned them, Chef. I didn't even bother plating them, honestly."

Gordon put his thumbs in his pockets and leaned his head backward, groaning. He stood there for a few seconds before turning to the blue team,

"Well, it appears you get the point by proxy then. I won't even bother to taste it. Gentlemen lead 3 to 1. All the red team can hope for now is a tie," he passed back the scallops before requesting the salmon dishes from each team.

He cut into the blue team's salmon and brought a bite to his lips.

"This salmon is cooked perfectly. You've earned a point, men, and with that point, you've taken away any chance the red team had at redemption. We'll go ahead and end the competition here with the clear winners, the blue team!" Ramsay dipped his head to the blue team who bounced around, bear hugging one another and cheering.

"As for the red team, honestly, I thought you all would win. I saw such good communication spring up between you all. Then it all fell apart. You're in for a real shit day," he looked down at us, his hands on his hips disapprovingly.

"First, you'll need to clean both kitchens until they are absolutely spotless. Then, remove your chef's jackets and meet me out back for the second half of your punishment. After that, you'll also need to prep both kitchens for dinner service tonight. Do I make myself clear?" Ramsay drilled us like an army sergeant.

"Yes, Chef," we said, sulking.

"Well, get to it then losers," Gordon dismissed us, turning to the men, "as for the blue team, you'll be headed out with Jean-Phillipe in our beautiful limo to your front row seats at the Los Angeles Lakers game! Have fun, gentlemen!"

The blue team whooped and hollered all the way up to the dorms, while the red team filed into the kitchen to begin the first half of our day-long punishment.

I just hoped that the second half wouldn't be as bad as Ramsay was making it out to be.


	19. Chapter 17- Our First Punishment

Cleaning the kitchen took the red team about an hour to finish. Sous Chef Christina was watching over us as we worked, making sure we didn't miss anything. Once she determined we had made everything spotless, she dismissed us to the dorms to change out of our chef jackets while she went to get Chef Ramsay for the second part of our punishment.

As soon as we all made it to the dorms, Bella turned on Cindy, her eyes flashing with anger.

"You **FUCKED** us over Cindy!" she bellowed, jabbing her finger into Cindy's chest.

Cindy puffed her chest up and shoved Bella back,

"Yeah? So fucking what bitch? It was a fucking _accident_," she hissed through her teeth, "don't act like you haven't screwed up too!"

"Well, when I did screw up it didn't make our entire team lose! You're such dead weight it isn't even funny anymore. I used to laugh at you for how much of a waste of space you are, but now I just feel sad when I look at you," Bella sneered, her words thick with vicious hatred.

A look of genuine hurt crosses Cindy's face before she recovered,

"at least I ain't the one throwing my pussy at anyone who gives me a lick of attention!"

Bella's sneer deepened as she responded,

"at least I can get a man or three. When was the last time a man touched you? Not including when the doctor pulled you out of your skank mom's cunt."

Cindy erupted and flung herself at Bella, grabbing for her hair. Unable to speak, she just sputtered in a rage.

Bella sidestepped Cindy and tripped her, causing Cindy to fall on her face! This didn't deter Cindy one bit, as she grabbed Bella's ankle and pulled her to the ground. Cindy pulled herself onto the thrashing Bella and clawed at her, pulling her chef's jacket open.

Bella yowled as she tossed and turned under Cindy, her manicured nails ripping at Cindy's jacket and face in a frenzy.

Gina had seen enough, she rushed over to the brawl and tried to separate the two combative women. She helped each to their feet after she managed to pull Cindy off of Bella. Both of the angry red team members glared at each other before Bella made another lunge for Cindy!

Thankfully, Gina grabbed the back of Bella's chef jacket, restraining her just in time. Bella allowed herself to be held back, shrugging free of Gina's grip and finally calming down enough to where she didn't personify a boiling kettle.

"You're out next, Cindy. You won't fuck us over any harder than you already have. I'll have you eliminated if it's the last thing I do," Bella asserted, before turning towards the bedrooms while removing her chef's jacket.

Cindy definitely took the brunt of that fight, while she heaved for breath I noticed her face had Bella's claw marks down one cheek. Kalyani came to Cindy's side and placed one dainty hand on her shoulder,

"Come on Cindy, let's get you ready for the next part of the punishment," she said calmly, helping Cindy to the bathroom, presumably to clean up her face.

The rest of the red team went into the dorm bedroom together and changed out of our chef's jackets. Bella was the first one out of the room, flitting past everyone then down the stairs without a word.

When Cindy and Kalyani emerged from the bathrooms, we went down to the back door of Hell's Kitchen together and walked outside.

There, we were greeted by Ramsay holding his arms open in the air. Behind his raised arms to his left and right were two garbage trucks.

"You ladies are in for a long, smelly day I can tell you that," Ramsay grinned, then signaled to the garbage trucks to dump their loads.

Slowly and sickeningly, slop and mush tumbled out of the garbage trucks. The stream of rotten trash didn't seem to stop for a straight minute. When the garbage trucks had unloaded, they drove off.

Ramsay walked towards us and began to speak,

"Ladies, today you'll be separating out plastics, papers, and organics into each of the labeled bins to your right. Then, you'll hose down our parking lot so it doesn't look filthy. Finally, get showered and come back down to prep the kitchens for dinner service tonight."

Ramsay looked at each of us, then noticed Cindy's scratches. With a worried expression, he approached her, concern in his voice,

"Cindy, what happened to your face?"

Cindy raised her hand to her cheek then shook her head, "eh, it's nothing Chef. Don't worry about it."

Ramsay squinted, peering at her cheek. He then looked at each of the women again and made eye contact with Bella. Bella hastily looked elsewhere and hid her hands behind her back. Ramsay clicked his tongue before backing away from Cindy.

"If you ever want to tell me what really happened, Cindy, you're welcome to visit me in my office. As for right now if you are alright, I'm getting out of here. It stinks to high hell. Good luck, ladies!"

Gordon opened the back door, waved to us then went back inside.

The next three hours passed in a sickening wave of heat, stink, and heaving. More than once I felt like I would throw up picking through the sloshy mess of gunk. The awful smell burned into my nostrils. I felt like I had taken a bath in sour milk, my skin was crawling from sheer disgust.

When the garbage was finally sorted, Gail and Red took to handling the hose and spraying down the parking lot. The rest of us got a head start on the showers.

No matter how hard I scrubbed or how much scented shampoo, body wash and conditioner I used, the smell of rotting garbage still clung to me.

As I towel dried my hair I thought to myself, I likely won't have a chance to spend one-on-one time with Gordon, so at least he won't be disgusted by my stink.

When each of us finished showering, we donned our chef's jackets once more and headed down to the kitchens to begin prep for dinner service.

About two-thirds of the way through prep, the blue team returned. They were each wearing a Lakers jersey with matching hat and holding a goodie bag. The boys walked through the kitchens where we were prepping, chatting loudly about how great the game was.

Garrett pinched Red's side as he walked past, eliciting a yelp. He laughed and continued past her to the dorms. Red looked furious but didn't say anything as she continued prep work silently.

We finally finished prep as the blue team made their way down wearing their chef's jackets once more. Gordon arrived at the head of the kitchen and waited for us to line up.

"Alright everyone, in case you didn't know, only about half of our services will be aired on television. I will still pick a winning team, of course, but there might not be an elimination. Now, this does NOT mean you get to be lazy fucks, the things you do in each service may be aired at any time. Please perform like the winners I know you want to be."

With that said, Gordon turned away from the kitchens and shouted,

"Jean-Phillipe, please open Hell's Kitchen!"


	20. Chapter 18- The Third Dinner Service

p data-p-id="b9770dce8a97e5f2c4c3daecffe9aaab"For this dinner service, Bella and Taylor were on appetizers, Gail and Red were on fish, Cindy and Kalyani were on meats, and Gina and I were on garnish. I was thankful to be on an easy station for once, it was kind of hard to screw up vegetables and sauce./p  
p data-p-id="94ec836c6a4f144dac98409f7077c8c8"Chef Ramsay called out our first ticket, two risottos, and one crab cake./p  
p data-p-id="de6433ecd473d420033f40bde103aca6"The girls were doing well getting out appetizers, at one point Chef Ramsay turned to us with a risotto that Taylor had brought up. I was sure that she was about to get scolded, but instead, Ramsay praised her,/p  
p data-p-id="8e922ec5139848fded87f6b205bf7c05""Taylor, this risotto is amazing. Please, keep them just like that, right?"/p  
p data-p-id="236a4dd88678f34100d02f761de2684a""Yes, Chef!" Taylor responded, beaming. She looked to me and I gave her a thumbs up./p  
p data-p-id="c74da2a79a3b2b9c3177a593ab0ee243"It was only when we made it to entrees that the walls came crashing down./p  
p data-p-id="37659760965d0b2328a13dda8070dd71""What the fuck is this? Everyone, look, come here!" Ramsay's irate voice pierced our eardrums. Everyone looked up and rushed over to see what he was talking about./p  
p data-p-id="9518eb64f73d43fe64ae0d5aae8baa34"In front of him, he held a pan with a very obviously raw piece of pork on it. He threw the pan down./p  
p data-p-id="92f334254c63586ff2568b0b44d8d181""Fucking raw pork, disgusting. Inedible. You know what happens when people eat raw pork?" Ramsay asked./p  
p data-p-id="f3e52a23436a6f1e31190e78c6f8e266"Kalyani piped up with a response,/p  
p data-p-id="5a7cda9882184159421f6d3545007d99""Chef, they could get worms."/p  
p data-p-id="015ca0828596113319035751b429b339""Yeah the fuck they do, Kalyani. I'm glad you know this, but how could you let it get sent up if you understand the risks? Which of you two cooked this?" he demanded./p  
p data-p-id="91bf651573246a85cb580b5d9078639b""I did, Chef..." Kalyani spoke, struggling to maintain eye contact with the enraged Chef./p  
p data-p-id="43b5abe0854f028da23cc63c998b97d7""Not fucking good enough, Kalyani. You too Cindy, you need to make sure you both stay on track. No more raw meat at the pass today, got it?" he ordered./p  
p data-p-id="579cf2ed016c8010a13726332bdc4ac2""Of course Chef, we'll be more careful!" Cindy retorted./p  
p data-p-id="a85066873cc85a85a3325801f5918546"Thankfully the two of them kept their word and no more raw meat was sent up. The fish station was cooking up a storm in the meantime./p  
p data-p-id="a9a462a4956e3b8314d30bd76a29a240"Cindy shouted to the fish station for a time and was met with silence. She then again shouted to ask for the time, but Gail was already headed to the pass./p  
p data-p-id="e69754f4211be7c915d80a9933e1df4f""Fucking shit!" Cindy cursed. Her meat was only halfway done when she'd pulled it out of the oven./p  
p data-p-id="66dc6ed358ff5c14649b9b9185b3a099""Where's my flank steak?" Ramsay asked from the pass, not turning around./p  
p data-p-id="4624837eae66c63885f9e4168ef8bf33""Chef, I still need four minutes. The steak is raw and I'm not sending it up to you like that!" Cindy responded./p  
p data-p-id="de707fea1e3d210459d674968a03d91b""If you still needed four minutes why do I have the fish already? I thought we went over this, communication makes or breaks the service!" he sighed, then dumped the fish into the garbage can next to him./p  
p data-p-id="be608f32da95b44e1acf3e3aa8906612""Fire another fish, and be ready with the meats this time, and TALK to each other!" he beseeched us./p  
p data-p-id="70765c90b74a4dc210ccec2e5b14b274""Four minutes on steak!" Cindy yelled, to which Gail responded, "heard!"/p  
p data-p-id="354f5ce0bfabbba599b36c9a6323c477"Gina and I both fired garnishes and sauces, putting them up at the pass on time. I'd just finished walking up a sauce when my heart froze as I heard Ramsay yell,/p  
p data-p-id="f8202c0092d232fa3884d119891817fc""Who brought me cold sauce? Are you serious?" he put a finger in the sauce and grimaced./p  
p data-p-id="d411c5b0d1b03252c88a987a2baa2873""Me, Chef, I'm sorry I grabbed the wrong one!" I rushed over to him and handed him the correct sauce. I had accidentally left an old sauce right next to the fresh one./p  
p data-p-id="eb23ebb7dfe168e24630ff4faefcbe39"He exasperatedly shook his head and sighed,/p  
p data-p-id="94c9075ee9f5e32db0af3ecd371a4ee4""It may only be our third service, but I expect you to check everything before you send it up to me," he paused, "being here is a dream of yours, yeah? Show me you mean it. Be meticulous as I am and we'll get along fine, right?" he said as he carefully handed me the cold sauce./p  
p data-p-id="292cb82f21be1c71d02d8f02147a3c27""Of course Chef, I'll be sure to check everything!" I nodded seriously before I went back to my station. Gina gave me an apologetic look before she returned to firing spinach./p  
p data-p-id="088c2a670cc66551383ccb1e5ccabb6d"Strangely enough, I didn't hear much yelling directed at the blue kitchen. Even Sous Chef Scott looked pleased as each of the men brought up their dishes to the pass. I only noticed one or two things being scolded, mostly minor and easily fixed problems like under-cooked scallops or needing to cut a portion size down a bit./p  
p data-p-id="f8bcb91802e5ac28327dfc381e7e3127""Shut it down, everyone. Nicely done, for the most part," Ramsay said, crossing his arms./p  
p data-p-id="a764d335266227b2e8ef207045c34eaa"Once everything was shut off, we lined up next to the stoves./p  
p data-p-id="c58a69205049178e80126981b48555d6""Right, the blue team really surprised me today. Men, you've won today's service, well done. Tonight is not an elimination night, but the red team's raw pork has me nervous. You all better shape up before the next service," he remarked, eyeballing Cindy and Kalyani./p  
p data-p-id="d94b0c70f4b38fc32f76402be1d9d3bf""As the losers of tonight's service, the red team will be cleaning the kitchens. Spotless, as usual, if you please. Then make yourselves something to eat and get some rest for tomorrow. There's going to be a new challenge for you early on in the day," he tapped his chin for a moment, "I'd also like to mention that this Sunday I'll be meeting with each of you privately in my office. Just a little check up on how everyone is doing, what you might need help with and so on. As you all know, there are no mics or cameras here on Sunday, so please speak candidly. Be thinking about what you want to talk about with me."/p  
p data-p-id="8e8a9bc05e193b2383d8785aef15ff47"He nodded before finishing, "well, get to cleaning then red team! I'll see you all tomorrow. Goodnight."/p  
p data-p-id="64a44b1d3a28bcc44cb51a81c63180d0""Goodnight, Chef!" everyone responded before the men happily made their way upstairs and the red team once again scrubbed the kitchen clean./p 


End file.
